Waterfall Asset Management announced that it launched a residential mortgage conduit to focus on partnering with lenders to originate proprietary mortgage products under flow agreements. The conduit aims to purchase prime and near-prime mortgages with relatively high loan-to-value ratios. An affiliate of Caliber Home Loans is preparing to issue a $354.5 million nonprime mortgage-backed security, according to presale reports by DBRS and Fitch Ratings ... [Includes four briefs]

VA mortgage originations fell significantly in the third quarter of 2018 due to a decline in purchase loans and a sharp drop in refinancing from the previous quarter. Rising interest rates and regulatory restrictions were mostly to blame, said lenders. VA production during the third quarter was $40.2 billion, down 21.0 percent from the quarter ago. Volume in the first nine months of 2018 dropped a mere 0.7 percent from the same time period last year. Purchase loans, which comprised 75.3 percent of VA’s guaranty business, were down 12.6 percent. On the other hand, year-over-year production increased 14.0 percent. VA refinance was down 39.0 percent from the second quarter and 18.1 percent on a year-to-date basis. The decline was fueled primarily by an 80.8 percent drop in VA streamline refis or Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans from the second quarter. IRRRL endorsements in the third quarter ... [Charts]

Moody’s Investors Service said 47.0 percent of the dollar volume of the loans in the MBS were underwritten by United Shore…

If you haven’t heard of Andrew Olmem before, it’s because he tends to keep a low profile.

Another trading firm that hopes to ride the non-QM wave is RAMS Mortgage Capital…

Loans in GSMBS Trust 2018-RPL1 were acquired from a government-sponsored enterprise, though Fitch didn’t identify which GSE.

Fannie and Freddie and their joint venture, Common Securitization Solutions, will implement the SSI and issue the first UMBS on June 3 of next year…

As of Sept. 30, Fannie and Freddie had some form of risking sharing on 38 percent to 42 of their guaranteed portfolios, respectively.

Early last decade, Fannie common once traded as high as $85.03, Freddie $68.20.

The dollar volume of low-score purchase loans increased by 29.8 percent from the second to the third quarter, while total GSE purchase business went up 23.6 percent.