The most significant blockages to the return of a healthy and sustainable non-agency residential MBS market in the United States are low volume issuance, regulation, weak AAA demand and missing structural reforms, according to top market professionals. “What’s holding back the recovery?” asked Rui Pereira, managing director at Fitch Ratings, during a panel discussion at a residential MBS reform symposium sponsored by the Structured Finance Industry Group and Information Management Network in New York City earlier this month. “Other sectors have rebounded and we’re starting to see new asset classes emerge. And yet, we’re seeing very little momentum in our market. So the question is, what’s stalling the RMBS recovery?” In the run-up to the discussion, Pereira polled...

Prior to FHFA’s new directive, Fannie and Freddie required homeowners who have been through foreclosure and want to buy their home back to pay the entire amount owed on the mortgage.

But did anyone really think the FHFA was going to reduce the GSE loan limits? Really…

What exactly is Owners.com? Launched in 1996, it’s supposedly the largest directory of homes for sale by owners. In other words, they don’t use traditional Realtors…

Wells Fargo reported a 2.1 percent drop in its correspondent originations from the second quarter to the third, and its year-to-date volume was down 57.3 percent.

The Prestwick Group and MIAC are also working on servicing deals.

Regarding Altisource Portfolio Solutions, Sterne Agee noted: “It is difficult to be optimistic from here"...

The CFPB put out a bulletin last week advising lenders not to create illegal hurdles for recipients of Social Security Disability Income who apply for mortgages, warning that requiring unnecessary documentation from such consumers could raise fair lending risk. The new bulletin discusses standards and guidelines on verification of SSDI, including those under the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s standards for FHA loans, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ standards for VA-guaranteed loans, and guidelines from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The bureau begins by noting that to verify income for qualified mortgage debt-to-income ratios under the ability-to-repay rule, lenders are required to look at whether the Social Security Administration benefit verification letter or equivalent document ...

An unspecified number of counties would have been assigned lower loan limits, based on house price trends, but the FHFA weighed “other factors” and left them unchanged.

The biggest gain in bank MBS investment during the third quarter was in non-agency securities.