Fitch Ratings last week upgraded 18 non-agency MBS backed by seasoned loans. The deals had been issued in recent years and performed better than the rating service expected.
The Angel Oak Companies has officially entered the small-balance commercial loan market, focusing on credits of $5 million or less for a host of properties, including multifamily, industrial, mixed-use, retail and medical.
It appears the mortgage real estate investment trust sector – a somewhat stable universe the past few years – might be ready for a major rollup, courtesy of margin compression and tighter margins.
Competition between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on MBS guarantee fees appeared to play a role in Freddie’s surge in market share during the fourth quarter, but the price war seemed to ease up in 2018.
The agency single-family MBS market stepped into the spring homebuying season with a solid increase in production, though still coming up slightly short of last year’s activity. [Includes two data charts.]
If past is prologue, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt might be on the job a lot longer than Jan. 6, 2019, which is when his five-year term expires. That is, if he wants to stay.
Redwood Trust announced this week that it purchased a stake in 5 Arches, an originator and asset manager of business-purpose residential mortgages. Redwood will continue aggregating jumbo and other non-agency mortgages, but officials at the real estate investment trust also see promise in loans for single-family rental properties and fix-and-flip financing.