Redwood Trust made a couple of adjustments to its new jumbo mortgage-backed security between when presale reports were issued and when the deal closed. Among other changes, the size was reduced slightly due to uncertainty about the impact of damage from Hurricane Irma on certain properties. Redwood removed 12 mortgages from the loan pool, dropping the unpaid principal balance of the MBS from $316.49 million to $307.64 million, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Seven loans were dropped...

Originations of adjustable-rate mortgages increased by 40.5 percent from the first quarter of 2017 to the second, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. An estimated $59.0 billion of ARMs were originated in the April-June cycle, with a number of major banks and nonbanks posting solid gains. Chase was...[Includes one data table]

Demand in the secondary market for credit risk could help increase issuance of prime non-agency mortgage-backed securities, according to industry analysts. A significant number of investors at the ABS East conference last week said deals across the MBS and ABS markets have been oversubscribed, with the supply of new issuance in recent months seen as insufficient. The conference was produced by Information Management Network in Miami Beach. Peter Sack, a managing director at Credit Suisse, said...

For several months now we’ve been hearing reports that the Trump administration has grave concerns about the FHA program...

CBO suggests seven options to reduce risk in FHA coverage, including insuring less of the loan amount...

S&P rated $69.54 billion of ABS issued in the first half of the year, roughly 60.1 percent of total issuance by dollar volume.

“Expectations have had to be reset post-election,” said Ryan Schoen, a senior financial services analyst at Washington Analysis.

The easing of underwriting standards was most dramatic for loans eligible for sale to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac…

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are encouraging MBS market participants to begin planning how they will adapt to the new uniform MBS when it goes online in early 2019. The “Single Security Initiative Market Adoption Playbook” provides a detailed look at the many changes involved in the new security, which will take the place of the separate to-be-announced MBS that the two government-sponsored enterprises now issue. The project includes...

The biggest challenge for the vibrant single-family rental market may be the shortage of available homes to purchase, according to panelists speaking at an Urban Institute event highlighting institutional investment in SFRs this week. And one analyst pointed to mid-sized investors as being best positioned to profit from the market. Since the financial crisis, SFRs have emerged as a viable housing option and real estate investment firms are seizing the opportunity. Both mom-and-pop operators and institutional investors have been buying homes of all sizes and offering them as rental properties. Prior to the crisis, there were...