The election of Donald Trump and Republican control of Congress could prompt changes to standards for qualified mortgages, according to industry analysts. QM standards were established by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010 and took effect in 2014 as part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule. Trump’s financial services policy implementation team said it will work to dismantle the DFA and “replace it with new policies to encourage economic growth and ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent actions against an unspecified number of lenders that offer non-qualified mortgages prompted some criticism about how the regulator enforces standards in the ability-to-repay rule. The CFPB cited lenders for originating non-QMs that allowed “alternative income documentation” for salaried borrowers. The CFPB said the products offered by the lenders relied primarily on the assets of each borrower when making an ATR determination ...

A start-up is working to allow retirees and other individual investors to buy into non-qualified mortgages, a market that so far has been dominated by hedge funds and other large institutional investors, along with occasional inclusion in non-agency mortgage-backed securities. Brad Walker, CEO of Income&, said the new platform offers an alternative to traditional fixed-income investments. He said Income& is trying to create a higher-yielding, lower-risk fixed-income instrument ...

Low mortgage interest rates appear to have contributed to a decline in applications for non-qualified mortgages at Impac Mortgage Holdings in the third quarter, according to officials at the nonbank. “A decline in mortgage interest rates generally increases the volume of conventional refinance products over non-QM loans,” Impac said in a quarterly filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission last week. Of the 58 banks that report to the Federal Reserve on the market for ...

Pricing has improved sequentially with each of the three jumbo mortgage-backed securities Redwood Trust has issued this year, according to officials at the real estate investment trust. Redwood’s most recent deal, a $343.16 million jumbo MBS, was issued in October. Christopher Abate, Redwood’s president and CFO, said it’s possible that the REIT will issue another jumbo MBS this year. Marty Hughes, Redwood’s CEO, added a caveat about uncertainty in the financial markets ...

The market for jumbo mortgage-backed securities looks to be regaining some momentum as Shellpoint Partners plans to resume issuance and market-leader JPMorgan Chase prepares another deal. Shellpoint’s New Penn Financial is set to issue a $353.68 million jumbo MBS next week, according to presale reports by Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Moody’s Investors Service. Shellpoint Co-Originator Trust 2016-1 will mark the first issuance from the MBS shelf since ...

Freddie Mac is set to issue a $459.92 million Whole Loan Securities transaction, according to a presale report from Moody’s Investors Service.

Originations of jumbo mortgages declined slightly from the second to the third quarter of 2016, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Meanwhile, production of conventional-conforming mortgages and loans with a government guarantee increased significantly in that span, prompting an uncharacteristic decline in market share for jumbo mortgages. An estimated $100.0 billion in jumbos were originated in ... [Includes one data chart]

Prospect Mortgage quickly ramped up its loan officer staff following the recent announcement of one of the largest acquisitions of the year.

Inside-the-Beltway analysts are predicting that financial regulation and new agency leadership posts will be a primary battleground in the incoming Trump administration.