New issuance of agency single-family MBS rose for the fifth straight month in August, including an unexpected boost from refinance activity, according to an Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae issued $120.10 billion of single-family MBS last month, a 6.9 percent climb from July’s total. August represented the second biggest month of 2017 but fell short of the $134.21 billion issued back in January. At that point, the MBS market was digesting a strong wave of refinance loans that quickly deteriorated over the following months. But the agencies saw...[Includes two data tables]

The agencies saw an 8.6 percent increase in refi volume from July to August, roughly triple the growth rate of the purchase-money business…

Redwood Trust worked for years to revive the jumbo MBS market by issuing deals with super-prime mortgages. Now, the firm is shifting its focus somewhat to “expanded prime” mortgages that have slightly looser underwriting standards. The $316.49 million Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2017-CH-1 is the first MBS from Redwood to deviate from super-prime standards. The deal received preliminary AAA ratings this week from Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Moody’s Investors Service. The average combined loan-to-value ratio of the mortgages in the MBS is...

Although Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae have all granted consumer forbearance on homes damaged by this season’s hurricanes, servicers must continue to make payments to MBS investors in most circumstances, a situation that could affect thinly capitalized nonbanks. In particular, smaller privately held nondepositories that became Ginnie issuers this decade could face some financial headwinds, depending on how heavily concentrated their business has been in the Texas Gulf region and south Florida. As Inside MBS & ABS went to press late this week, it was...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac appear poised to go ahead with their plans to structure future credit-risk transfer debt offerings as real estate mortgage investment conduits to expand the investor base. “No significant concerns have been raised to date, and, provided that the market continues to respond favorably, we expect to conclude our feedback period soon,” said Fannie. Back in May, the government-sponsored enterprises announced...

Just because consumers might be off the hook for at least 90 days on making their payments, MBS investors will want their money, noted on observer…

Homebuyers are increasingly relying on co-borrowers to help with home purchases...

It appears that 2017 is shaping up to be one of the biggest years for the first-time homebuyer market…

In case you’re wondering the concept of GSE “recap and release” is not under consideration...

A handful of large banks continued to retreat from the business of servicing home loans for other investors during the second quarter of 2017, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call reports. Commercial banks and savings institutions reported that they serviced $3.627 trillion of residential mortgages for other investors, typically mortgage-backed securities trusts, as of the end of June. That was down just 0.4 percent from the previous period ... [Includes one data chart]