The nonprime sector has split off from jumbo, and there are now roughly 70 investors in the sector.

The Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court this week granted a motion by Lehman Brothers Holdings to add indemnification claims against its former brokers and loan correspondents based on the allegedly defective loans at issue in a $2.3 billion settlement with non-agency MBS trustees.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued a combined $2.06 billion in credit-risk transfer debt notes during the third quarter of 2018, their lowest production level since the end of last year, according to an Inside MBS & ABS analysis. [Includes one data chart.]

One large fixed income investor is working with clients now to make sure they’re prepared to invest in the new single security when it rolls out next summer. Western Asset Management is advising investors to consider aggregating their mortgage concentration and exposure limits for the uniform MBS that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will issue in the to-be-announced market.

loanDepot, one of the nation’s largest nonbank home lenders, has come to market with a $300 million warehouse-related securitization for its Mello digital lending division. Three of the deal’s five tranches have received ratings from Moody’s Investors Service. The other two were not rated.

The Structured Finance Industry Group continues to wrestle with the demons of the past, the myriad issues that contributed to the downfall of the MBS and ABS markets a decade ago. Individuals working on various workstreams offered progress reports, stressing that the project is focused on best practices rather than rigid standards, at the group’s Residential Mortgage Finance Symposium in New York this week.

Buoyed by strong investor demand, new issues of non-agency MBS have “flourished” in recent years, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

Companies that specialize in whole-loan trading are looking at a somewhat brighter future thanks to increasing volumes in the expanded-credit market, but it remains to be seen whether trading desks will return to the halcyon days of the pre-crisis environment.

Originations of fix-and-flip bridge loans have increased significantly in recent years and the collateral could soon be included in MBS with credit ratings. A handful of unrated deals backed by the loans have been issued with limited notice.

Jumbo and nonprime MBS production is having its best year since the financial crisis but growing pains are clear, according to experts at the Residential Mortgage Finance Symposium sponsored by the Structured Finance Industry Group in New York this week.