Originations by nonbanks of loans that don’t meet standards for qualified mortgages are off to a slow start, according to industry participants. “There is obviously a lot of noise in the area, a lot of announcements about people getting involved. And from what we have seen, there is nothing of any size and replicable flow that seems readily securitizable,” Michael Commaroto, CEO of Apollo Residential Mortgage, said this week during a call with investors. He said ...

JPMorgan Chase had the largest amount of holdings of non-agency mortgage-backed securities – by far – among banks and thrifts at the end of the second quarter of 2014, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Chase held $44.53 billion in non-agency MBS at the end of June, accounting for 34.5 percent of all non-agency MBS held by banks and thrifts. TD Bank, the second-ranked holder of non-agency MBS, had a ... [Includes one data chart]

Ginnie Mae servicing bumped up slightly in the third quarter after an uneventful prior quarter as FHA purchase activity continued to drag, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of agency data. Servicing volume rose quarter over quarter by 1.4 percent. On an annual basis, volume increased 4.6 percent from the same period a year ago. Ginnie Mae servicers ended the quarter with a total of $1.48 trillion in unpaid principal balance, up from $1.46 trillion in the previous quarter. The top three servicers saw volume drop on both quarterly and year-over-year bases. Wells Fargo remained as top servicer of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities, closing out the quarter with $422.4 million, down 0.8 percent from the previous quarter and down 0.6 percent from the prior year. The mega-servicer dominated the Ginnie market with a 28.6 percent market share. JPMorgan Chase carved out a 10.1 percent market share with ... [1 chart]

GSE executives, however, declined to specify when their new 97 percent LTV programs will be ready.

Nonbank mortgage servicers continued to gradually expand their share of the market during the third quarter of 2014, but the pace has clearly slowed. Nonbank institutions accounted for 27.2 percent of the $7.389 trillion of servicing controlled by the top 50 servicers in the industry, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. The nonbank share of the top 50 in combined servicing was up from 26.8 percent at the midway point in 2014 and 24.0 percent in September 2013. The nonbank expansion has slowed...[Includes two data charts]

Of the dozen or so mortgage company sales that have been announced over the past two months, just one has involved a servicing portfolio of any size and even that transaction – $1.5 billion of mortgage servicing rights owned by Continental Home Loans – was small. In today’s merger and acquisitions market, it’s all about building loan origination capacity as buyers such as Freedom Mortgage, LoanDepot and Guild Mortgage try to keep growing. Moreover, this thirst for production comes...

Two Harbors has plenty of capacity to hold non-agency loans in portfolio without reliance on outside financing.

The mortgage insurance industry lost a key political ally with the reelection defeat of first-term Democratic incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina.

Some 60.7 percent of the mortgages in the deal have interest-only features.

Whatever might be in the works at the FHFA regarding looser credit won’t be out until mid-December, we’re told…