Commercial banks and thrifts boosted their combined holdings of residential MBS to a new record, $1.661 trillion, during the first quarter of 2016, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. The data include held-to-maturity and available-for-sale accounts, but not trading assets, which included another $45.99 billion of residential MBS as of the end of March. The banking industry’s MBS holdings in HTM/AFS portfolios rose 1.0 percent from the end of 2015, and they were up a substantial 5.2 percent from a year ago. It’s worth noting that total assets in the banking industry actually rose a bit faster, by 2.1 percent, dropping the MBS share of total assets down slightly to 10.2 percent. Unlike some quarters, when activity by one or two dominant banks accounts for most of the industry’s change, the first-quarter increase was...[Includes two data tables]
Freddie Mac and Common Securitization Solutions remain on track for the first stage of the ambitious Single Security to be implemented next year, according to officials speaking at this week’s secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. David Applegate, CEO of CSS – the joint venture owned by the two government-sponsored enterprises that is building the common securitization platform – also said the project is on target to reach the second stage sometime in 2018. That’s when Fannie Mae will switch its to-be-announced business to the CSP and begin issuing Single Securities that will be fully interchangeable with Freddie Single Securities. Renee Schultz, senior vice president of capital markets at Fannie, said...
Over the past two weeks, MBS prices have been on a downward trajectory, leading some market watchers to ponder whether the long-awaited correction in values is finally upon the industry. But no one is quite ready to wave the white flag. Moreover, there’s a school of thought that says any rise in the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond could be short lived and, at some time over the next six to 12 months, rates might head south again, igniting yet another small refi rally. Some also believe the chance of a recession is in the cards. Barry Habib, who runs MBS Highway, a rate-locking advisory service, thinks...
Activity in the Home Affordable Refinance Program continued to dwindle in the first quarter of 2016 as the post-housing crisis initiative winds down before expiring at the end of the year. HARP refinances fell to just 19,989 in the first quarter, down 5.2 percent from the previous period and off 36.8 percent from a year ago, according to a new Federal Housing Finance Agency report. While both government-sponsored enterprises saw a decline in volume, Freddie Mac volume was...[Includes one data table]
Production of loans with FHA, VA and rural housing guaranties held up a little better than the other sectors, with estimated originations slipping 1.0 percent from the fourth quarter.
MorVest's David Fleig predicted that nonbanks – which have been gaining market share the past two years – eventually will move to convert some of their MSR assets into cash via bulk sales.
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