With some federal agencies effectively downsized by the government shutdown, Ginnie Mae continues to guarantee MBS, but it’s unclear how long it can go on with limited staff and commitment authority. Under the shutdown contingency plan drafted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Ginnie has limited its operations to key functions fulfill its obligations to issuers and investors. The agency said MBS guaranties would be honored during the shutdown. While the rest of the workforce is on furlough, some 44 essential salaried employees will continue...
The secondary market for residential servicing rights returned to health this year, spurring new hopes that it could lead to securitizations of “excess” MSRs. But getting there could prove difficult. Mark Garland, president of MountainView Servicing Group, said mortgage firms that have amassed large holdings of MSRs would like to unlock the value imbedded in this esoteric asset. One way to do that is through securitization transactions. According to Garland, large banks – including Wells Fargo – have been quietly selling...
Fannie Mae remains on track to securitize $30 billion in multifamily loans this year, compared with nearly $34 billion in 2012, which would meet the FHFA scorecard target.
Non-agency MBS investors are still unhappy with how negotiations for the $25 billion national servicing settlement were handled and are concerned that the federal government will pull a similar move in settlement negotiations with JPMorgan Chase. John Gidman, president of the Association of Institutional Investors, said non-agency MBS investors weren’t involved in negotiations for the national servicing settlement and haven’t been involved in ongoing discussions regarding Chase. He said using funds from non-agency MBS to remedy allegations of inappropriate, unlawful or illegal behavior on behalf of an issuer or servicer makes it harder for investors to price risk. “This consequently makes...
A Manhattan federal judge last week rebuffed a motion by a number of major lenders to dismiss a bid by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. against the firms in connection with $388 million of non-agency MBS sold to the now-defunct Colonial Bank. The FDIC filed its complaint in August 2012, alleging that the defendants – including JPMorgan, CitiGroup, Ally Securities, First Horizon, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo – placed poor-quality loans in the 11 underlying residential MBS and then misled investors by marking them as safe investments. Montgomery, AL-based Colonial Bank failed...
Fannie Mae plans to issue a $675 million risk-sharing securitization in a transaction that likely will hit the market by mid-October, according to potential investors who were briefed on the government-sponsored enterprise’s plans. Market participants said Fannie has contemplated issuing two such transactions by year-end, but the company isn’t talking about specifics, at least not yet. Still, the GSE is laying...
Issuance from new participants in the non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security market wasn’t enough to offset reduced activity by Redwood Trust and others in the third quarter of 2013, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Issuance of jumbo MBS slowed particularly in September, as Shellpoint Partners delayed its planned security and PennyMac Corp. made changes to attract investors. A total of $3.94 billion in non-agency jumbo MBS was issued in the third quarter, a 9.1 percent decline from the previous quarter and about level with the issuance seen in the first three months of 2013. Redwood and Credit Suisse, the jumbo MBS sector’s two biggest players, slowed...[Includes one data chart]
Officials at Redwood Trust are calling for a gradual decline in conforming loan limits as opposed to an immediate repeal of the high-cost agency loan limits. Martin Hughes, CEO and director of the real estate investment trust, said market disruption due to a decline in loan limits is unlikely while non-agency mortgage-backed security investors said additional reforms are necessary. “If the conforming loan limits are reduced, I believe the private market would aggressively compete for those loans that exceed the new limit without any market disruption,” Hughes wrote in testimony this week for a hearing by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. He drew a parallel to the reduction of the high-cost loan limit in 2012 from $729,750 to $625,500. A gradual decline in the high-cost loan limit would be...
Jumbo mortgage-backed security structures used by Redwood Trust, PennyMac Corp., and others pose risks for investors, according to Moody’s Investors Service, although the rating service said bonds will only incur losses in “low-probability scenarios.” Moody’s raised concerns about features that go beyond the simple senior-subordinate structures that have been most common since the restart of the non-agency MBS market. Those features include...
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