Through the first nine months of 2013, an estimated 22 percent of the $1.59 trillion in mortgages originated (including second liens) had non-agency execution.

The former House Democrat has already halted – for now – certain DeMarco-era directives, including the FHFA’s December announcement of a 10-basis point guaranty fee increase.

While activity plummeted in the second half of the year, jumbo MBS production in 2013 was nearly four times the level from the previous year.

MountainView and The Prestwick Mortgage Group are out in the market with new deals for mortgage servicing rights. The new year should prove to busy for MSR sales.

Just three jumbo mortgage-backed securities were issued in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. During the second quarter of the year, one deal was issued every week, on average. Investor demand for jumbo MBS plummeted after interest rates started to increase in May. A number of the deals that were completed in the second half of the year received minimal attention from investors, with at least one planned issuance scrapped ... [Includes one data chart]

The Federal Reserve’s asset purchases will continue to dominate execution of jumbo mortgage-backed security issuance until the significant purchases of agency MBS are stopped, according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The tapering of the Fed’s quantitative easing beginning this month will do little to end the advantages agency MBS have over new jumbo MBS. “We believe that the Fed’s ‘non-economic’ bid for agency MBS contributes to the distorted price advantage for agency MBS ...

Just how important are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the revenue picture of the U.S. government? According to calculations from The Collingwood Group, a Washington-based consulting firm, GSE dividends in 2013 will be the fourth largest source of federal revenue.

Fitch Ratings recently released new loan-loss model criteria for jumbo mortgage-backed securities. The rating service said the new loss criteria could result in higher credit enhancement requirements for new jumbo MBS. The new criteria assign a penalty to loans sourced through non-retail channels. The rating service will now include a borrower’s liquid reserves as a variable in its loss modeling. Fitch will apply a 25 percent haircut to the reported reserve amount based on the volatility ... [Includes five briefs]

The Department of Housing and Urban Development warned of tougher enforcement against servicers who do not make full use of HUD’s loss mitigation tools, as it announced the implementation of a newly revised tiered servicer ranking system. The new system, Tiered Ranking System II, features a new scoring mechanism that would help HUD determine which lenders get higher reimbursement rates on claim expenses based on their servicing performance.

During the next 12 months, investors will have to navigate through numerous uncertainties, including all forms of policy risk: monetary, fiscal, economic and the fate of the GSEs.