Watt noted the CRT coverage has come at a financial cost – and that Fannie and Freddie have been paying a premium.

Although bulk transfers of mortgage-servicing rights were down somewhat in the first quarter, sales advisors are reporting strong activity for the period including more buyer interest and a firming up of prices, even on Ginnie Mae product. According to affiliated newsletter Inside Mortgage Trends, bulk agency MSR transfers that closed in the first quarter were down 35.9 percent from the fourth to $77.3 billion. The biggest downturn was in Fannie Mae product, due to a temporary freeze on bulk transfers as servicers adjusted to new investor reporting requirements. Freddie Mac transfers were actually up from the fourth quarter. More banks and consortiums are extending...

Transfers of servicing from large servicers to smaller firms can help improve loss mitigation performance while introducing new risks to the system, according to industry analysts. Smaller servicers tend to be more “nimble” than large servicers and are better suited to handle distressed mortgages, according to analysts at Moody’s Investors Service. The rating service published a report recently highlighting changes in the servicing industry. Many large servicers, predominantly banks, have reduced...

Performance of non-QM loans has been strong, buoyed by good house-price appreciation and the fact there have been no lawsuits based on the ability-to-repay rule.

Redwood generally prefers to have multiple execution options. The company is considering issuing MBS backed solely by Choice mortgages.

This fall will mark – unless there’s divine intervention or a Kumbaya moment in Washington – the ninth anniversary of the federal takeover of Fannie and Freddie.

The size of the pending jumbo deal from JPM has not been disclosed yet, but AMC, Clayton and Opus are working on reviews...

Several trade groups, investors and analysts quickly issued their take on Watt’s comments, but there were some notables missing in action: Pershing Square and Fairholme.

“Our assessment indicates that this change would not impact the MBS markets,” Fannie Mae said.

The securitization of income-property mortgages nosedived in the first quarter of 2017, with most of the downturn in the volatile non-agency sector, according to an Inside MBS & ABS analysis. A total of $48.29 billion of MBS backed by commercial properties was issued in the first quarter, down 27.7 percent from the previous period. Although production was down 6.1 percent from the same period in 2016, it was close to the average quarterly volume of $49.35 billion that the market has produced since the beginning of 2014. The average for the 2011-2013 period was just $32.00 billion. Average volume is...[Includes one data table]