FeatherStone Investment Group has entered the fledgling real-estate-owned-to-rental securitization sector with a new program that allows broader investor participation in the transaction. Other securitized REO-to-rental deals only pay investors coupon and principal cash flows derived from rents on the properties, the company noted. FeatherStone’s program, on the other hand, would allow investors to participate in both the immediate rental cash flow as well as the potential capital gains from the sale of the properties in the deal. FeatherStone’s deal will be financed...
Stewart Information Services, which has made a name for itself in the title insurance space, has purchased most of the assets of Allonhill, LLC, a due-diligence firm that conducts reviews on non-agency loans feeding jumbo MBS. No purchase price was disclosed on the sale. As Inside MBS & ABS went to press, both companies were saying little about the sale outside of a short press release. Due-diligence sources familiar with the deal say...
If the agencies stick with their current plan to extend QRM status to any home loan that meets the “qualified mortgage” safe harbor, regardless of downpayment amount, private MIs would have to sell their product based on its economic value.
Fewer borrowers are using FHA financing, which has enabled private mortgage insurers to take back more market share from the FHA, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of industry data. Borrowers are shying away from FHA due to higher mortgage insurance premiums (MIPs) that took effect early this year and to the new policy eliminating MI cancellation. Private MIs accounted for 36.6 percent of primary mortgage insurance written in the second quarter, their highest level since 2008. This was up from 32.7 percent in the first quarter and from 30.5 percent a year ago. Private MIs also provided coverage on ...
Purchase-money lending increased by a hefty 37 percent, climbing to an estimated $163 billion in the second quarter, according to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance.
Some trade groups, including the California Mortgage Bankers Association and National Association of Realtors are not happy with the idea of lower loan limits.
Federal regulators dealt the private mortgage insurance industry a setback last week when they opted to ignore the presence of private MI coverage in defining “qualified residential mortgages” under a new proposed rule governing securitization. The new rule will require issuers of mortgage securities that are not backed by QRMs to retain a 5 percent share of the risk. As a practical matter, it won’t apply to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac business as long as the government-sponsored enterprises are in conservatorship, although this exemption would not necessarily be extended to any post-GSE entity that Congress may create. If the agencies stick...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is expected to announce lower loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sometime this fall, a move that warms the hearts of non-agency jumbo originators everywhere, but is causing consternation among certain factions of the market, in particular, Realtors and the California Mortgage Bankers Association. “Any reduction in the loan limit will have a huge impact on the California market,” said Susan Milazzo, executive director of the CMBA. “We’re a high-cost state.” The trade group executive told...
Look for the Senate leadership from both sides of the aisle to ramp up efforts to craft new legislation on comprehensive mortgage finance reform when Congress returns from its summer recess next week, although industry observers predict lawmakers will make only marginal progress this fall. Last month, at the behest of Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-ID, senior committee staff met with various industry “stakeholders” – including trade associations, consumers groups and academics – to hear their thoughts on housing finance reform and the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to meeting participants. The meeting takeaway among the stakeholders who spoke with Inside Mortgage Finance is...
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