Non-agency mortgage-backed securities investors do not have enough confidence to allow for accelerated reform of the government-sponsored enterprises, according to Michael Berman, chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “The key is the private markets have spoken that they don’t have confidence,” Berman said last week in...

The decline in high-cost conforming loan limits set to occur later this year will affect a small fraction of the more than 300,000 counties in the U.S., according to an analysis released last week by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. However, concerns remain that the non-agency sector will not adequately serve...

A number of firms are actively testing their jumbo securitization operations, according to Clayton Holdings. Notably, jumbo conduits are anticipating new mortgage-backed security issuance. “We have recently participated in several meetings centered around newly-developed jumbo conduit platforms and have performed...

Risk-retention requirements proposed by federal regulators last week strongly favor the government-sponsored enterprises over non-agency securitization, according to industry analysts. The pristine mortgages in Redwood Trust’s recent jumbo securitization would not completely meet the standards and the vast majority of... [Includes one graph]

Real-estate investment trusts that focus on the nonconforming market are positioned to capitalize on risk-retention requirements proposed last week by federal regulators. But banks with large balance sheets may be less able to access non-agency securitization, according to industry analysts. The qualified residential mortgage proposal is likely to...

All FHA-insured mortgages made after April 18 will face higher annual premiums, the latest fee structure change in a series of adjustments over the past year. Early indications from Department of Housing and Urban Development data show that the measures have begun to accomplish both of the agency’s goals – to shore up...

Originations of FHA-insured mortgages declined in early 2011, and February’s total was the lowest in nearly three years. Overall mortgage market lending dropped in the fourth quarter last year, and the industry is in the throes of reforming the system while trying to urge back the private sector. The $15.0 billion in... [Includes one data chart and one graph]

The package of government-sponsored enterprise reform legislation introduced into the House Financial Services Committee last week dominated headlines, but sources on Capitol Hill said forthcoming legislation will also aim to tighten FHA underwriting in some manner, continuing to protect the program’s...

Congress explicitly exempted FHA and Department of Veterans Affairs loans from the definition of “qualified residential mortgage” in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. While those government loans will not be subject to the risk-retention requirements for mortgage securitizations, the proposed QRM safe harbor for... [Includes one graph]

The potential shutdown of the federal government at the end of this week could have sudden and detrimental effects on FHA borrowers and lenders, although the situation was still very much in flux as Friday’s midnight deadline rapidly approached. “This is the worst time to introduce this uncertainty into...