New MBS and ABS issuance slowed in the second quarter of 2013 as rising interest rates in June stalled the markets momentum. A total of $495.4 billion in residential MBS and non-mortgage ABS were issued during the second quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS market analysis. That was down 3.7 percent from the first quarter of the year, although total production during the first half of 2013 was still up 17.8 percent from the same period last year. June was...[Includes one data chart]
Credit Suisse and Shellpoint Partners decided to damn the torpedoes and issue a total of three non-agency jumbo MBS at the end of the second quarter of 2013 despite concerns about investor appetite. The Shellpoint MBS was a proof-of-concept affair, while at least one of the Credit Suisse deals appears to be aimed at unloading seasoned originations from one lender. The three deals totaled $1.10 billion. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said...
Issuers of new non-agency MBS continue to resist requests from investors to standardize reps and warrants for new issuance. Issuers suggest that investors will eventually differentiate pricing between deals based on reps and warrants, but it hasnt happened yet. Securitization platforms do and will likely continue to differ in terms of the scope of the reps and warrants provided, according to analysts at Standard & Poors. While standardizing reps and warrants would be a step towards improving transparency in the residential MBS market, the new issue jumbo market has shown substantial diversity even with relatively few recent transactions. S&P recently hosted...
Could rising interest rates and a shake-up in the repo market cause some real estate investment trusts that specialize in the MBS market to dump securities en masse? A new report from Fitch Ratings notes that repurchase agreements represent 90 percent of agency mortgage REIT liabilities. In a deleveraging scenario, MBS investors reliant on repo borrowing may need to liquidate some of their holdings, writes Fitch analyst Robert Grossman and his team. If that happens it might create what Fitch calls a knock-on effect for MBS valuations and the mortgage market in general. The cash provided via repo lines is...
Credit unions held a total of $107.1 billion of MBS in their portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking of call report data. That was up 4.9 percent from the previous period, a relatively strong increase in a market where the supply of MBS outstanding has barely budged and the Federal Reserve represents a huge competitor for new issuance. Compared to a year ago, credit union MBS holdings were up 10.9 percent, while the total MBS market actually declined by 1.4 percent. Credit unions for the most part have ignored...[Includes one data chart]
Freddie Mac is rolling out a new version of an old mortgage security product designed to distribute the credit risk of borrowers paying back their mortgages to the private markets. The government-sponsored enterprise has begun marketing a new product, the Structured Agency Credit Risk security, which is designed to lay off credit risk to the private capital market on a scalable basis without impacting the TBA market or increasing counterparty risk. Freddie attempted a similar product in 1998 before deciding it was a failure. A Freddie spokesman said...
The Federal Reserve decided against instituting new mortgage risk weightings in issuing its Basel III final rule this week, a decision that will likely make it easier and cheaper for financial institutions to hold onto their legacy non-agency MBS and thereby reduce the pressure they may feel to deleverage their balance sheets. In light of new regulations designed to improve the quality of mortgage underwriting as well as continued uncertainty regarding the aggregate impact of pending mortgage-related rulemakings, the draft final rule does not include the proposed risk weights and instead incorporates the risk weights for residential mortgages under the general risk-based capital rules, which assign a risk weight of either 50 percent (for most first-lien exposures) or 100 percent for other residential mortgage exposures, the Fed said. That means...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw a marked decline in refinance business during the second quarter of 2013, but a strengthening housing market helped offset some of the lost volume. The two government-sponsored enterprises securitized $256.0 billion of single-family refinance loans during the second quarter, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance GSE Seller Profile, a quarterly statistical report based on loan-level, mortgage-backed securities disclosures. That was down 13.6 percent from ... [Includes two data charts]