Two Harbors Investment Corp. announced last week that it has taken its first steps toward setting up a securitization issuance program, with a goal to issue a $250 million jumbo non-agency MBS sometime in 2011. The New York-based real estate investment trust will partner with Barclays Capital to close on a $100 million mortgage loan warehouse facility, which is subject to future increases. Two Harbors will buy prime, fixed-rate jumbo residential mortgages and aggregate them in the facility. It is currently targeting a $250 million deal size for the initial securitization. Barclays will act as underwriter, according to Two Harbors. The program is aimed at...

Federal regulators should adopt a fair value method for measuring an MBS sponsor’s retained interest in non-agency transactions and make subtle changes in the proposed premium capture provisions in order to provide a framework that’s feasible for issuers, according to Redwood Trust officials. In a briefing with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the company explained several key changes to the proposed inter-agency rule on risk retention as it would affect non-agency MBS. Redwood, the only company that has issued non-agency MBS backed by newly originated mortgages over the past few years, was joined by officials from Wells Fargo, which had been one of the most...

California Attorney General Kamala Harris this week announced a new mortgage-fraud investigating force to monitor and prosecute deviations from the mortgage processes required by law. The new group, called the California Attorney General’s Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, will be composed of attorneys and investigators from the state Department of Justice (both civil and criminal), and will oversee processes such as mortgage loan origination and the way mortgage-backed securities are marketed to investors. “We will work to safeguard the homeowner at every step of the process – from origination of a loan to its securitization – and we will...

Industry representatives are making headway in obtaining clarification from the Federal Reserve on various aspects of the agency’s controversial regulation on loan originator compensation. But there are a number of key questions that still have to be addressed, and until they are, lenders need to proceed carefully, according to a top official at one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders. One area in which the industry needs clarification has to do with compensation based on “time spent” as it pertains to different loan programs and products, and whether compensation can be established on a loan-by-loan basis or by...

The head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency urged House Republican sponsors of various bills aimed at reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to include the government-sponsored enterprises’ regulator as part of the solution to avoid the problem of the two sides working at cross purposes. “FHFA and the enterprises are facing challenging times as Congress considers legislation to restrict, transform and wind down the enterprises,” said Edward DeMarco, acting director of the FHFA, during a hearing in the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and GSEs this week. “During this period, I respectfully ask that...

Mortgage delinquency rates improved in almost all categories, and although they’re still high, it could signal a positive turning point, according to recent reports. The Inside Mortgage Finance Larger Servicer Delinquency Index showed an overall delinquency rate at 10.27 percent in the first quarter, down from 11.25 percent in 4Q10, and the lowest seen since the 9.39 percent rate in 1Q09. Improvements were seen in every category of delinquency from last quarter. Loans 30-60 days delinquent went from 2.81 percent to 2.41 percent, 60-90 days delinquent from 1.25 percent to 1.01 percent and loans over 90 days delinquent from... [Includes one data chart]

Home purchase mortgage activity is limping along in 2011 as high levels of both distressed properties and cash sales continue to weigh down the housing market. According to new numbers released by the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey, the Distressed Property Index decreased slightly in April but still remained at an elevated level of 47.7 percent. An abundance of distressed properties in the housing market is cutting into home purchase lending. The new HousingPulse Survey results show that the share of damaged real estate owned – the hardest sector of home sales to obtain traditional financing – jumped from [Includes one graph]

Industry groups urged policymakers to use caution in considering legislation to reduce FHA loan limits, require higher downpayments and make further changes to mortgage insurance premiums. In testimony before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Economic Opportunity this week, officials of the mortgage banking and housing industries supported efforts to reform the FHA, Ginnie Mae and the Rural Housing Service to restore stability and strength to the housing sector. But such reforms should strike the proper balance between prudent risk management and providing credit assistance to qualified borrowers, they said. The hearing was called...

Conventional conforming mortgage production took the heaviest hit in new lending during the first quarter as all four corners of the single-family originations market recorded sharp declines, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. Originations of conventional mortgages that meet conforming loan limits sank 40.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010, hitting an estimated $213.0 billion. The conventional conforming market still had the biggest role in the market, accounting for 65.5 percent of new originations, but a sharp drop in refinance activity hit the sector hard. Government-insured lending was also... [Includes two data charts]

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will host workshops for directors of nationally chartered community banks and federal savings associations in New York at the Hilton New York, June 28-29, 2011...