Store closures by J.C. Penney, as part of its plan to turn around operations and return to the black, are putting pressure on mall-focused real estate investment trusts to reduce their risk exposure, Moody’s Investors Service said in a new report. J.C. Penney in February announced plans to close 27 stores this year, including 18 full-line department stores and nine home and furniture stores, spanning at least 13 states. Moody’s expects the retailer to announce more closures in ...

As a result of numerous inquiries, Ginnie Mae has provided additional clarity on the seasoning for VA refinances to help issuers comply with its 2018 guidance on pooling eligibility requirements. Under the Dodd-Frank reform act, to qualify for a Ginnie guarantee, a VA refi loan must have a recoupment period of 36 months and provide a net tangible benefit to the borrower. The seasoning requirement is aimed at curbing serial churning — the repeated refinancing of a loan to generate ...

Rating services are getting more comfortable with ABS and MBS stocked with loans originated by marketplace lenders. The share of such issuance with credit ratings is increasing and credit enhancement requirements for the deals are declining. Marketplace lenders, also known as fintech lenders, started by matching individual investors with borrowers, and funding evolved in recent years to institutional investors and ABS and MBS. Some $2.6 billion of marketplace lending ABS ...

Thanks to rising long-term interest rates, the negative yield curve that investors fretted about two weeks ago has been snuffed out, causing some market watchers to worry less about a coming recession. As Inside MBS & ABS went to press, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was at 2.51%, compared to 2.33% for the two-year and 2.44% for the three-month T-bill. As recently as March 25, the 10-year was at 2.36%, lower than short-term rates. Opinions differ, but some analysts ...

Production of new MBS and ABS fell in almost every category during the first quarter of 2019, but several markets showed rebounding volume in March, a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis shows. Preliminary estimates indicate that a total of $310.04 billion of MBS and ABS was issued in the first three months of 2019, a 10.3% decline from the previous three-month period. It marked the softest quarter in new issuance since the April-June cycle ... [Includes three data charts]

New York-based real estate investment trust MFA Financial is working on two separate non-QM- related MBS deals that could come to market sometime this spring, according to officials familiar with the transactions.

Industry participants fleshed out details of a housing-finance reform outline at two days of Senate hearings this week. They were divided, though, on whether an overhaul of the government-sponsored enterprises is even necessary, let alone what type of reforms need to be completed.

Delinquencies on subprime auto ABS are rising, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. But S&P Global Ratings said the situation may not be as bad as the Fed suggests.

Investment demand for data-center real estate investment trusts is likely to grow given the expanding demand for technology services, and it will not be risky, Morningstar Credit Ratings said in a new report.

The secondary mortgage market could be in for historic change in the wake of President Trump this week ordering the Treasury Department to end the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and come up with a new paradigm.