A spike in issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities in the last days of the second quarter of 2014 wasn’t enough to boost issuance to the meager levels seen in the previous quarter, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Some $1.25 billion in jumbo MBS were issued in the second quarter, a 24.9 percent decline from the previous quarter. Four issuers brought deals to the market during the quarter ... [Includes one data chart]

The Treasury Department issued a wide-ranging request for comments last week as part of an effort to increase issuance of non-agency mortgage-backed securities. Treasury officials said they are working toward developing standards and practices for the non-agency MBS market. “The private-label securities market has been dormant since the financial crisis,” said Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew. “The fact is, we need to attract more private capital to the housing market ...

JPMorgan Chase issued a $303.75 million jumbo mortgage-backed security last week backed by 15-year fixed-rate mortgages. The deal suggests that there is some viability in securitization as the loans included in the deal were suitable to be held in bank portfolios and in fact were mostly originated by banks. First Republic Bank accounted for 55.1 percent of the contributions to J.P. Morgan Mortgage Trust 2014-2 followed by Chase itself with a ...

The new lenders contributing to jumbo mortgage-backed securities could pose risks to investors in the deals, according to Standard & Poor’s. The rating service said that due diligence and strong underwriting standards currently mitigate the risks, but there are concerns that the lenders with limited track records won’t be able to fulfill representation-and-warranty repurchase obligations. Jumbo MBS have seen contributions from a mix of lenders. The main contributors ...

The anxiously-awaited Spring surge in purchase-mortgage lending finally arrived at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during recent months, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis of loan-level data from the two government-sponsored enterprises. The two GSEs issued $141.83 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter, an encouraging 9.8 percent increase from the dreary levels recorded in the first three months of 2014. During the first quarter of this year, Fannie/Freddie MBS production set a 14-year low of just $129.21 billion. Clearly, the market isn’t...[Includes three data charts]

The $261.01 million jumbo mortgage-backed security that Shellpoint Partners issued in June 2013 has had 14 loans go 30-days delinquent, four loans go 60-days delinquent, and one loan go 90-days delinquent, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency. As of May, only three of the loans were 30-days delinquent, with the other once-delinquent mortgages having returned to current status or paid off. KBRA affirmed its ratings of ... [Includes four briefs]

Mortgage companies that were hoping to launch initial public offerings this year are putting their plans on hold these days thanks to a weak origination market, according to investment bankers and stock analysts who follow the industry. “It’s deader than a doornail,” said Paul Miller, a senior analyst with FBR Capital Markets. According to Miller, who tracks publicly traded mortgage companies such as Nationstar Mortgage, PHH Corp., and Walter Investment Management, the origination market has...

Agency issuance of single-family MBS rallied during the second quarter of 2014, offsetting a slump in production of non-agency MBS and non-mortgage ABS, according to a new market analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae combined to produce $212.23 billion of single-family MBS during the April-to-June cycle. That was up 13.3 percent from the first three months of 2014, which was the weakest quarter for agency MBS production since the first quarter of 2001. On a year-to-date basis, agency MBS issuance was...[Includes two data charts]

The Treasury Department announced late last week that it is working to develop market practices and standards that would be necessary “to support a safe and sustainable non-agency MBS housing finance channel of significant scale.” As part of the effort, the Treasury posed nine questions to industry participants and is accepting comments on the issue until Aug. 8. Michael Stegman, counselor to the Treasury for housing finance policy, said regulators have addressed most of the problems seen in the non-agency MBS market before the financial crisis. “The last remaining piece of the puzzle is putting in place standards and mechanisms to protect investors in residential MBS, while also clearly defining issuer responsibilities so that they have the confidence to return to the market at scale,” he said. Regulators may have “addressed”...

MBS prices have been hovering around their highs for the year and could stay that way through the fall with minor corrections occurring along the way. “Prices have risen even on the good economic news,” said Joe Farr, director of sales and marketing for MBSQuoteline. “But they fell by about 1 percent over the past week.” Recently, when the Consumer Price Index rose, there was...