The delinquency rate for loans backing commercial MBS was fairly stable in August, according to reports from Fitch Ratings and Trepp. Although Fitch reports that loan delinquencies fell one notch to 4.52 percent from the previous month, Trepp data show that the overall CMBS delinquency rate inched upward to 5.45 percent in August, from 5.42 in July. Late payment balances fell...

Marketplace lending – otherwise known as peer-to-peer lending – is becoming more of a “thing” for institutional investors, hedge funds, venture capital firms, and even banks these days, but there are plenty of risks lurking in the bushes as well as other operational challenges, according to ratings service analysts. “While marketplace lending has enjoyed increasing growth and acceptance, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services believes a measured and cautious approach is warranted to properly evaluate this segment, which exhibits unique and heightened risks,” S&P credit analysts Ildiko Szilank and Timothy Bartl wrote in a new report. Among the risks they identified is...

Nearly 100 approved issuers will be dismissed from the Ginnie Mae MBS program for failing to be active participants, according to a top agency official. Michael Drayne, senior vice president and head of the Office of Issuer and Portfolio Management at Ginnie Mae, said the agency is currently working through all of the Ginnie I (multifamily) and Ginnie II (single family) issuers that have not issued a single security since their approval. Drayne estimated...

A $1.5 trillion year is doable: according to survey figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance, residential funders originated $805 billion in the first half.

The supply of residential MBS in the market grew tepidly in the second quarter of 2015, but not enough to increase the overall securitization rate for home mortgages. A total of $6.335 trillion of single-family MBS were outstanding at the end of June, a slim 0.1 percent increase from the previous quarter. The supply of MBS has been bouncing slightly higher and lower over the past six quarters, without gaining much traction. With total home mortgage debt outstanding climbing by 0.4 percent during the second quarter, the share of securitized loans fell...[Includes two data tables]

With mortgage debt outstanding climbing by 0.4 percent during 2Q, the share of securitized loans fell to 64 percent at June 30, the lowest level since 2012.

MBA chief Dave Stevens noted: “We’ve seen that before, when enforcement does replace regulation, and that’s our greatest concern.”

In August, first-time buyers accounted for 56.9 percent of agency purchase mortgages, up from 54.5 percent a year ago.

Freddie Mac reported that its first-time homebuyer business is growing and is on target to match its best year in the space since the beginning of the housing crisis. During the first half of 2015, lenders have delivered an average of 17,000 first-time homebuyer mortgages per month to the government-sponsored enterprise. That’s roughly the pace for last year but 25 percent higher than in 2013. Overall, the National Association of Realtors said...[Includes one data table]

The FHA will consider stakeholders’ concern about its proposal to terminate a lender’s mortgage insurance contract for missing a yet-to-be-finalized deadline for filing claims, an agency official said. For now, however, the agency remains adamant about letting the provision stand despite stakeholder complaints about its severity, said Ivery Himes, director of the Office of Single Family Asset Management at FHA, during a panel discussion this week at the Ginnie Mae annual conference in Arlington, VA. She said missed deadlines are costly and are putting a strain on the agency’s resources. Himes blamed...