Real estate investment trusts that focus on the residential MBS market reported a modest increase in their portfolios during the second quarter of 2017. The 15 mortgage REITs tracked by Inside MBS & ABS held a combined $233.34 billion of residential MBS at the end of June. That was up 1.4 percent from the end of the first quarter, though down 2.9 percent from the midway point in 2016. Ten of the REITs reported...[Includes one data table]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to lean heavily on their structured debt programs to meet credit-risk transfer goals originally set by their regulator that have become key features in their business strategies. The two government-sponsored enterprises issued $4.48 billion of credit-risk transfer debt during the second quarter, a modest 5.8 percent increase from the first three months of the year. Overall MBS issuance by the two GSEs was down during that period, but their CRT debt issuances are typically linked to MBS issued six months prior. Fannie’s Connecticut Avenue Securities program produced...[Includes one data table]
The clock is ticking on the phrase-out of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, a benchmark the mortgage market has relied on for the past few decades. Now comes the debate: is it something to worry about or no big deal? A new report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch suggests that when it comes to MBS at least, the changes will be felt, depending on the sector. “Certain agency MBS cash flows will be impacted directly,” BAML notes. “For example, underlying cash flows on LIBOR-indexed hybrid ARMs may change if an alternate index is chosen.” The researchers noted...
The transition from a market hot with refinances to a more traditional purchase market has made the industry ripe for new and old mortgage fraud schemes, according to CoreLogic. The company’s National Fraud Risk Index reached 133 in the second quarter, a slight uptick from the first quarter, but it represents the highest it’s been since the index was introduced in 2010. That number was 122 in the fourth quarter of last year. With all of the moving parts and players involved in a purchase transaction versus a refinance, CoreLogic said, there are...
Investors in certain residential MBS transactions backed by defaulted mortgages in the run-up to the financial crisis are a step closer to being made whole, more than four years after the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a settlement with JPMorgan Securities, Bear Stearns and some affiliates over allegations they misled investors and mishandled bulk settlement proceeds. The case involved is Securities and Exchange Commission v. J. P. Morgan Securities LLC, EMC Mortgage, LLC, Bear Stearns Asset Backed Securities I, LLC, Structured Asset Mortgage Investments II, Inc., SACO I, Inc., and J. P. Morgan Acceptance Corporation I, Case No. 12-CV-1862 (RLW). In November 2012, the SEC filed...
This year, nonprime production across the U.S. might top $3 billion to $4 billion at best. At its peak last decade, it was a $1 trillion a year business. That’s not a misprint…
The second quarter of 2017 was not easy for publicly held nonbank mortgage lenders and servicers, but the beleaguered sector fared better than it did a year ago. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of second-quarter earnings reports found the eight companies in the roundup managed to generate just $24.37 million in mortgage-banking income. That was down 80.1 percent from the group’s first-quarter earnings. One public nonbank, Stonegate Mortgage ... [Includes one data chart]
Mortgage lenders that sell loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac opened the credit box slightly for refinance borrowers during the second quarter, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of mortgage-backed securities data. Some 24.8 percent of refinance loans securitized by the two government-sponsored enterprises during the second quarter had credit scores below 700. That was up from 22.6 percent in the previous period and just ... [Includes two data charts]
The third quarter of any given year is usually among the strongest in terms of residential loan originations, but new employment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that many mortgage lenders are being careful about hiring these days. Loan brokers on the other hand appear to a bit more liberal. But interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Trends over the past week suggest that plenty of nonbanks are continuing to search for help, especially firms that ...
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