Attendance at the ABS East conference hit another record this week, with investors showing strong demand for structured finance products. Issuance is expected to remain elevated, helped by interest rate moves.

Issuance of MBS with non-qualified mortgages is growing even as insurance companies increase their purchases of non-QMs as whole loans. Investor demand for the products looks likely to remain strong.

A panel of mortgage industry veterans concluded that the best scenario MBS investors can hope for in the upcoming election is that neither side wins a clean sweep of the presidency and Congress.

The rating service proposed more closely aligning its criteria for rating U.S. residential MBS with how it assesses residential MBS in other countries. The likely result: no downgrades and many upgrades.

Issuance of vehicle ABS is nearing another record and spreads remain tight, indicating that there’s plenty of investor demand for the asset. There are some concerns about performance, particularly for subprime auto ABS.

Residential MBS transactions will likely experience a spike in delinquencies, but performance will return to pre-storm levels within a year, according to Moody’s.

An expansion of publicly held agency MBS means that primary dealers’ MBS holdings have also grown, filling a void left by the Fed.

DSCR and investor loans are seeing strong interest from investors due to the housing market and new rating methodologies.

The key vehicle ABS sector slowed in the third quarter and business-finance securitization stalled. But issuance in the first nine months of 2024 was up 22.9% from last year. (Includes three data tables.)

Ginnie Mae must firm up plans to boost nonbank issuer liquidity for times of stress and set policies for transferring MSR in the event a large servicer exits the market, speakers said at a summit this week.