Non-agency mortgage-backed securities investors do not have enough confidence to allow for accelerated reform of the government-sponsored enterprises, according to Michael Berman, chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “The key is the private markets have spoken that they don’t have confidence,” Berman said last week in...

The Home Affordable Modification Program continues to be criticized for the pace of activity, but one segment of the market has embraced HAMP: servicers with loans in portfolio. While HAMP accounted for 27.0 percent of all mods completed by major banks and thrifts in the fourth quarter of 2010, HAMP accounted for 50.2 percent of...

Fitch Ratings’ proposed major revision of the ratings process for jumbo mortgage-backed securities “could pose obstacles” to the resumption of non-agency MBS issuance, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Under Fitch’s proposal, jumbo MBS ratings would be tied to home prices and potentially require...

Citing improved conditions for legacy non-agency mortgage-backed securities, the Federal Reserve this week auctioned off $1.33 billion in non-agency MBS acquired from American International Group. Information on the winning bids will be made public in three months but analysts suggest that...

In what may be an omen of a deeper slide of volume in the months to come, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw their issuance of new mortgage-backed securities drop 21.4 percent in the first quarter of the year from the prior period, the latest data from the Inside Mortgage Finance GSE MarketScope show...[includes one full-page chart]

Standard & Poor’s maintained its ranking as the top rating service in the MBS and ABS market in 2010, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. S&P rated 78 percent of the non-agency MBS issued last year, up sharply from its 51 percent share back in 2009. While total non-agency MBS production rose by just 5 percent in 2010, S&P’s business increased 63 percent, the largest increase in... [Includes one data chart]

Commercial banks posted a solid 7.3 percent increase in their holdings of MBS over the second half of 2010, emerging as the top investor class in the market, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. Commercial banks held...[Includes one data chart]

The leading financial institutions that provide mortgage loans eligible to be sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to gradually tighten their underwriting and incrementally increase the quality of their business in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the latest data from the Inside Mortgage Finance MBS Database. As refinance mortgages became...[Includes one data chart]

Securitization remained the dominant method of financing new residential mortgages during 2010 despite the fact that the non-agency MBS market remains in shambles. Some 84.9 percent of the $1.570 trillion of home loans originated last year were pooled...[Includes one data chart]

Federal ReserveLO Compensation Webinar. The Fed will host a webinar on March 17 to answer questions and provide an update on the controversial loan officer compensation rule, which takes effect April 1. Securities and Exchange Commission Mortgage Firm, Top Executive Charged...