While private mortgage insurance on new non-agency mortgage originations has been minimal since 2008, some industry participants project that private MI will play a role in the non-agency mortgage-backed security market going forward. “Mortgage insurers may get more involved with the private-label market, and this may be another source of third-party oversight,” Morningstar Credit Ratings said in a recent report. “While it is too early to predict the investors’ response to ...

S&P Global Ratings upgraded servicer ratings for Ocwen Loan Servicing to average from below average this week. Ocwen’s stock price increased significantly after the upgrade because of ratings clauses in Ocwen’s subservicing agreements with New Residential Investment. S&P downgraded Ocwen’s servicer ratings in June 2015 and if the ratings weren’t raised by April 2017, New Residential could transfer the subservicing to a different company. As of the end of ...

Freddie Mac’s efforts to reduce holdings of nonprime mortgages and nonprime mortgage-backed securities are proceeding at a faster pace than efforts at Fannie Mae, according to a new analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The government-sponsored enterprises had a combined $161.12 billion in nonprime holdings as of the end of the second quarter of 2016, down 6.3 percent from the first quarter and down 20.4 percent from the second ... [Includes one data chart]

Originations of non-qualified mortgages by Impac Mortgage Holdings declined in the second quarter of 2016 after rising steadily since the nonbank launched its non-QM program in 2014. Company officials pointed to low interest rates and demand for refinances of conventional mortgages for the decline. Impac originated $60.3 million in non-QMs in the second quarter, down from $74.0 million in originations in the first three months of the year. “Demand for non-QM loans has ...

Among the top 15 subprime servicers, only Caliber Home Loans increased its portfolio during the second quarter of 2016, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Caliber handled $18.62 billion in subprime mortgages as of the end of June, up 4.4 percent from March. During that span, the total amount of subprime mortgage outstanding fell by 4.2 percent to an estimated $275.00 billion. Caliber has been originating ... [Includes one data chart]

Many servicers increased their jumbo portfolios during the second quarter, including both banks and nonbanks, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. A group of 30 servicers handled an estimated $863.40 billion in jumbo mortgages as of the end of June, up 2.0 percent from the previous quarter and up 10.7 percent from the same time last year. Wells Fargo, the top jumbo lender, is also the largest jumbo servicer ... [Includes one data chart]

A federal judge rejected efforts by the government to keep a new batch of official memos and other documents from being disclosed in the ongoing legal war over the terms of the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Margaret Sweeney released a new set of documents that included a brief excerpt of former White House housing policy expert Jim Parrott’s deposition from January, a presentation from the Federal Housing Finance Agency in 2008 and several memos dating back to 2008 and 2012. Sweeney rejected...

Although delinquencies on commercial MBS rose for a fifth straight month during July, predictions of a bust have not developed and many analysts are starting to feel more comfortable with the sector, especially in regard to multifamily credits. According to figures compiled by Trepp, the overall delinquency rate on U.S. CMBS increased 16 basis points during the month to 4.76 percent. The percentage of loans considered seriously delinquent increased 19 bps to 4.67 percent. This compares...

JPMorgan Chase is a step closer to settling a dispute with Deutsche Bank and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over certain mortgage securitization agreements in connection with the government’s takeover of failed mortgage lender Washington Mutual. According to Chase’s most recent 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm, Deutsche Bank and the FDIC have signed a term sheet to resolve pending litigation brought by the German bank against Chase and the FDIC in relation to WaMu as well as Chase’s outstanding indemnification claims pursuant to the terms of the purchase-and-assumption agreement with the FDIC. The term sheet is subject...

Fannie Mae’s new securitization program for modified single-family mortgages could generate as much as $24 billion in issuance, according to an analysis by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The program will create “an asset class meriting investor focus,” BAML noted. Fannie recently released...