Issuance jumped in May and volume year-to-date is well above the level of issuance seen in the first half of 2023. Investor demand has remained strong amid the surge in issuance.

The SEC or another federal entity should map credit ratings among competing rating services, similar to efforts by regulators in other countries, according to Morningstar. The firm said rating mapping can help keep competition strong among rating services.

Fitch is allowing ratings for certain CRT issuance from banks to be higher than the rating on the issuer. The deals need various features to receive higher ratings.

Esoteric assets such as data centers and HEIs have seen increased investor interest due to higher interest rates.

Researchers show that U.S. insurance companies monitor the riskiness of the assets backing their CMBS bonds but they didn’t sell off significant portions of the portfolios.

Ginnie offers new multiclass aggregation options; Fannie increases social bond disclosure; Annaly touts ESG efforts; new nonprofit advocates for greater parity for women in mortgage capital markets.

Most REITs reported declines in the fair value of their agency MBS during the first quarter of 2024. Non-agency MBS holdings were up, as were net TBA positions. (Includes two data tables.)

Goldman is a leading issuer of prime non-agency MBS and an issuer of expanded-credit deals. The firm aggregates loans from various lenders for securitization.

Time to REIT-up for United Wholesale Mortgage? Not really, company management said recently. Just two A-paper nonbank lender/servicers — Freedom Mortgage and PennyMac — have jumped into the REIT pond, with different growth outcomes.

Fitch Ratings expects CDFIs to sell more of their production in the secondary market due to rising interest rates and a shift by banks to tighten underwriting standards.