The outstanding balance of non-agency mortgage-backed securities increased in February on a monthly basis, according to a Standard & Poor’s analysis of remittance data. The increase was a rare occurrence as non-agency MBS outstanding has regularly declined since 2009. Of the more than 20,000 jumbo mortgages Redwood Trust has acquired as part of its jumbo conduit activities since 2010, only 11 have gone 60-plus days delinquent ... [Includes five briefs]

Non-agency servicers participating in the Home Affordable Modification Program have room for improvement, according to the latest testing results completed on behalf of the Treasury Department. While no servicers were in danger of having HAMP incentive payments withheld, the Treasury said Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial and Select Portfolio Servicing were all in need of “moderate” improvement as of the fourth quarter of 2014 ... [Includes one data chart]

Originations of adjustable-rate mortgages were nearly level in 2014 compared with the previous year, according to a new ranking by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The ARM share of total originations increased because mortgage production overall was down in that time, though some big banks that dominate ARM originations also slowed their production. An estimated $198.0 billion in ARMs were originated in 2014, up 1.0 percent ... [Includes one data chart]

Interactive Mortgage Advisors is working on several servicing transactions totaling about $20 billion in product. But the receivables are being offered through private negotiation only...

The non-agency mortgage business looks attractive to many companies, but it is a difficult market to get into, according to experts speaking at a mortgage servicing conference sponsored by Information Management Network this week in New York. Non-agency originations outside of portfolio jumbos have been limited due to certain allowances for the government-sponsored enterprises and the lack of demand for mortgage-backed securities, among other issues ...

The mortgage servicing market grew for 226 consecutive quarters from March 1951 (when the Fed started quarterly calculations) to the first quarter of 2008, when it peaked at $11.321 trillion.

For the past year, Nationstar Mortgage has been working toward offering a non-QM refinance product.

But an overall reduction in servicing rights will come as it continues to shed "default servicing," which the bank has quite a bit of.

A number of non-agency MBS investors with mezzanine and subordinate positions in deals serviced by Ocwen Financial support the troubled servicer, according to industry participants. The investors have pushed back against an effort by other investors holding senior tranches to get servicing transferred from Ocwen. “Ocwen is a critically important servicer in private-label residential MBS,” John Devaney, CEO of United Capital Markets, wrote in a recent letter ...

Although much of the discussion about nonbank servicing standards has focused on capital, the CSBS framework will cover considerably more ground than that.