Industry analysts are generally optimistic that most of the large consumer ABS sectors will probably see a stable, positive year in 2016. However, they’re not very gung-ho about what kind of a year the government-backed student loan space is going to have. Analysts at Wells Fargo Securities think that consumer ABS should offer good relative value next year, based on solid credit fundamentals and robust structural protections. “We expect spreads to tighten in 2016 as the primary market recovers and the yield curve flattens along with Federal Reserve tightening,” they said in a recent outlook. “Spreads are likely to stay volatile and event-driven.” Further, “Weak demand and poor liquidity have been...

Black Knight Financial also said that despite the reintroduction of Fannie’s and Freddie’s 97 LTV product, the FHA/VA continues to dominate low downpayment lending.

“Turn times are slower and processing times are longer,” said David Frase of Southwest Bank.

Two investment banking firms – Interactive Mortgage Advisors and MountainView Servicing Group – have at least $17 billion (combined) in mortgage servicing rights auctions in the works, a sign that the sector is heating up as the year draws to a close. Several other advisory firms have announced deals in the past few weeks, including The Prestwick Group and Mortgage Industry Advisory Corp. Also, sources contend that investment banker Houlihan Lokey is busy as well, though company officials there declined to comment for this story. Mark Garland, president of MountainView, said...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have seen modest growth in programs launched early this year to serve downpayment-challenged borrowers, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of loan-level data on agency mortgage-backed securities. Ginnie Mae has accounted for 94.5 percent of purchase mortgages with loan-to-value ratios ranging from 95.1 percent to 97.0 percent that were securitized by the three agencies during the first 11 months of 2015. Because LTV data is not available for all loans in Ginnie MBS, the agency’s actual share of these high-LTV loans is likely somewhat higher. Fannie and Freddie have established...[Includes one data table]

“There is a ton of competition out there right now,” said one warehouse manager who works for a top-five firm.

More evidence that the government has a hard time holding on to victories in subprime-related mortgage cases...

It's that time of the season: MBS issuance was down 30.6 percent at Fannie and off 17.4 percent at Freddie.

The average loan-to-value ratio of the NPLs is 91 percent, based on the broker price opinion.

The trade group’s profitability calculation is based on average production volume of $614 million per company in the third quarter.