After years of being prohibited by regulators from acquiring servicing rights, Ocwen Financial is back in business as a buyer in full force. [Includes one data chart]

Issuance of mortgage-backed securities with non-qualified loans continues at a brisk pace, with a new deal from New Residential Investment in the pipeline.

An affiliate of Oaktree Capital Management is set to issue its first mortgage-backed security with non-qualified loans. The $268.16 million issuance includes loans from two prominent lenders who haven’t been large players in the non-QM MBS market recently.

Moody’s Investors Service has flagged risks related to non-agency players using the automated underwriting tools developed by the government-sponsored enterprises to produce loans underlying private-label mortgage-backed securities.

The representations and warranties provided on new non-agency mortgage-backed securities are receiving renewed attention from industry participants. Issuers of prime jumbo and expanded-credit MBS, particularly, have been subject to criticism.

The amount of jumbo mortgage servicing handled by the top servicers increased at a much faster rate in 2018 than the total amount of outstanding residential mortgages, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. [Includes one data chart]

Carson to Leave HUD After Trump’s First Term; Ginnie Annual Summit Set; Regulators Reject Request for Hearing on Appraisal Threshold; VA Announces Special Relief for Alabama.

In an effort to streamline its lending process, the FHA has scrapped the requirement of a 10-year protection plan for newly constructed single-family homes, according to guidelines released this week.

The use of the VA home-loan guarantee benefits by servicemembers who are first-time homebuyers has increased 110% from 2007 to 2016 in a significant shift from single-family conventional mortgages, according to a recent report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

FHA lenders can now outsource verification of a borrower’s employment, income and other assets to third-party vendors. The new guidance, which came into effect on Feb. 15, applies to all FHA forward mortgages and Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans.