Servicing advisors told IMFnews that many of the bulk deals they have been seeing of late are $4 billion in size or under.

“I’m wondering how many people buy homes outside of buying them with cash,” Ryan said during the webinar. “To me it’s that serious.”

Mystery continues to surround the seller of that $27 billion MSR package...

Fannie and Freddie held a combined $252 billion in Alt A and subprime mortgage assets at the end of June, down 18.3 percent from the second quarter of 2013.

A number of mortgage finance industry groups have expressed concern about how the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule is interfering with the return of private investor capital back into the sector – mostly because of the rule’s assignee liability provisions. The industry comments came in response to a request from the Treasury Department in June for suggestions to encourage private capital to return to the non-agency mortgage-backed securities space. The Association of Institutional Investors said the ATR rule’s assignee liability provision “unfairly punishes investors who have nothing to do with the origination of loans and oftentimes have limited insight into the origination practices.” The assignee liability provision therefore introduces a risk that is almost impossible to price for those not directly involved in ...

Two industry trade groups expressed support for consolidating Ginnie Mae’s mortgage-backed securities program and creating a new MBS but they are at loggerheads on some of the details. Commenting on the Ginnie Mae proposal, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said the disagreements are mostly on how to resolve issues related to winding down the Ginnie Mae I MBS program and providing a conversion option for existing securities. “It is clear that further discussion is warranted, and direct engagement with key stakeholders should be beneficial,” the trade groups suggested. Ginnie Mae has received considerable support from a variety of industry players for its “straw man” proposal to shift to a single MBS program based on the existing Ginnie II. The program now accounts for more than 90 percent of all ...

Redwood, which had 140 active sellers at the end of June, plans to start testing its high-balance loan program with the FHLB system in the fourth quarter of this year.

Bargain prices in the re-performing mortgage market may be a thing of the past.

Moody’s Investors Service this week announced a proposed update to its rating criteria for jumbo mortgage-backed securities. Under the proposed criteria, collateral modeling will be based on a new version of Moody’s Individual Loan Analysis tool as opposed to the portfolio analysis tool Moody’s has used since 2008. Navneet Agarwal, a managing director at Moody’s, said the proposed changes set “a new standard for transparency” ... [Includes six briefs]

The hedge fund contends the government’s actions short change investors and amounts to a de facto liquidation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...