Four mortgages from First Republic Bank were subject to limited reviews that didn’t include checks for compliance with TRID.

Just three depositories ranked among the top 15 issuers for February…

Redwood officials note that in recent months pricing for jumbo MBS has been stronger than the bid for whole loan sales…

Ginnie Mae production fell substantially in February from January as the government-insured lending market continued to lose steam in the first quarter of 2017. Ginnie mortgage-backed securities issuance fell 24.0 percent from January as fewer purchase and refinance loans were pooled for securitization, bringing February’s total issuance to just $32.2 billion. Year-over-year Ginnie MBS issuance, on the other hand, increased by 6.2 percent. The government-insured market set an all-time record of $545.0 billion in originations during 2016, a whopping 31.0 percent jump from the previous year. That total eclipsed previous records for originations of FHA, VA and rural housing loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to data compiled by affiliate Inside Mortgage Finance. In addition, government-insured lending accounted for a record ... [ 3 charts ]

Issuance of non-agency MBS backed by new originations continues to be limited…

Earlier this week, Flagstar closed on its purchase of the correspondent lending platform of Stearns Lending – a rare transaction where a depository was buying a key mortgage asset from a nonbank.

The SFIG Vegas conference this week set another attendance record for the annual event, demonstrating strong interest in the structured finance market. While investors are comfortable with most asset classes of MBS and ABS, significant concerns remain about non-agency MBS. More than 6,700 people registered for the conference, according to Jade Friedensohn, director of programming at Information Management Network, which produced the conference along with the Structured Finance Industry Group. Potential investors in non-agency MBS continued...

As Democrats in Congress worked on reforms after the financial crisis, issuers of MBS and ABS repeatedly warned that regulatory uncertainty would hurt the market. With Republicans now looking to roll back parts of the Dodd-Frank Act, industry participants are pushing for risk-retention requirements to remain in place, again citing the potential impact of regulatory uncertainty. “It’s foolish to think that we would try to tear it all down,” said Howard Kaplan, a partner at the law firm of Deloitte & Touche, during this week’s SFIG Vegas conference. Among many other changes, the CHOICE Act from Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, would repeal...

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae produced a combined $96.70 billion of new single-family MBS during February, a sharp 27.9 percent decline from the previous month, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. February’s issuance was the lowest monthly volume since March of last year. All three agencies saw substantial declines in gross MBS issuance, led by Fannie’s 31.9 percent drop. Still, agency MBS production in the first two months of 2017 was...[Includes two data tables]

Secondary market gains headed south in the final three months of 2016, and so far it’s not looking too bright for the first quarter of 2017, which has about four weeks to go before it’s a wrap. According to a new report from Piper Jaffray, gain-on-sale margins declined to an average of 94 basis points in the fourth quarter, compared to a more robust 106 bps in the third. Piper said GOS is currently tracking at about 88 basis points. The research firm’s coverage universe includes...