The total dollar volume of non-agency mortgage-backed securities backed by new originations nearly doubled in 2018, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Some $29.08 billion of non-agency MBS backed by new loans was issued in 2018, a 94.3 percent increase from 2017. Issuance of both prime non-agency MBS and expanded-credit deals hit post-crisis highs last year. Some $17.69 billion of prime non-agency ... [Includes one data chart]

The market for mortgage-backed securities with non-qualified mortgages will continue to grow in 2019, according to industry analysts. However, the annual doubling of volume seen in recent years appears unlikely. Analysts at both Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo Securities project non-QM MBS issuance to increase by about 60 percent in 2019. Some $11.38 billion of expanded-credit MBS, including non-QMs, was issued in 2018, according to Inside Nonconforming ...

Industry analysts expect Mark Calabria to shake things up at the Federal Housing Finance Agency – that is, once he’s approved by the full Senate. “The nomination of Calabria should, in our view, be taken as an indication of the administration’s and the Treasury Department’s will to tackle housing reform proactively, rather than maintain the status quo,” analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said. According to Wells Fargo Securities, Calabria’s nomination is one of the most significant ...

Moody’s Investors Service recently completed a round of assessments of originators and aggregators of non-agency mortgages. One of the key findings showed that Redwood Trust has a loan review policy for prime jumbo mortgages that differs from other aggregators. “Redwood continues to be the only aggregator that we have assessed to date who does not conduct full reviews on 100 percent of acquired prime jumbo residential mortgage loans,” Moody’s said. Three banks ...

Some self-employed workers are missing out on mortgages because of harsh standards included in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule, according to analysts at the Housing Finance Policy Center. “The mortgage market is not adequately meeting the needs of self-employed households,” the analysts said. The HFPC noted that in 2016, about 8.5 percent of U.S. households were headed by a self-employed person and 3.4 percent were salaried but earned some ...

Issuers of non-agency mortgage-backed securities are adding more variety to the stop-advance features of the deals, leading to criticism from rating services. Industry analysts, though, said the move doesn’t necessarily create new risks. With non-agency MBS, master servicers have to advance the principal and interest due for delinquent loans. Historically, they had to make the payments if the advances were deemed recoverable, analysts at Deutsche Bank Securities noted ...

CORRECTION: The ranking published in the Dec. 14, 2018, issue of Inside NonconformingMarkets of Top Bank/Thrift First-Lien Residential Mortgage Portfolios for 3Q18 included some errors. An updated version of the ranking and story are available at www.insidemortgagefinance.com. Redwood Trust is preparing to issue a $349.6 million prime non-agency mortgage-backed security, according to presale reports published this week by ... [Includes four briefs]

The partial government shutdown, now in its second week, has had limited impact on the FHA and VA lending programs but could be disastrous to federal rural housing programs if prolonged.

There are certain weaknesses in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ interim final rule on VA cash-out refinance loans that need to be ad-dressed to ensure borrowers and investors are protected from loan churning and other predatory lending practices.

Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee urged the FHA to reverse its “unofficial” policy of denying Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status recipients access to FHA loans.