The Federal Reserve’s effort to normalize its balance sheet later this year would cause no significant falloff in the agency mortgage-backed securities market over the next six to 12 months, according to global investment firm Loomis Sayles. In an analysis, the firm concluded that agency MBS remain attractive for now with modest excess returns for agency MBS versus Treasurys. “We favor a modest overweight agency MBS stance versus Treasurys for the remainder of 2017 and ...

Mortgage origination volume was up sharply in the second quarter of 2017, but total production this year still trailed the pace set in 2016 because of slumping refinance activity. An estimated $455.0 billion of first-lien mortgages were originated in the second quarter, according to an exclusive new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. That was up 18.2 percent from the January-March cycle, but production over the first six months of 2017 totaled just $840.0 billion, off 6.7 percent from the same period last year. Most other mortgage market indicators sent...[Includes two data tables]

A few months back, Citadel Servicing Corp., Irvine, CA, was eyeing the May/June period as the target date for its first nonprime mortgage-backed security. Now that July is almost over, it’s eyeing the fall – if that. According to company founder and CEO Dan Perl, prices being paid in the whole loan market for its high-yielding loans are just too good to turn down. Perl indicated that for his company, at least, the economics of a whole loan transaction are just too favorable right now. Although he could not be too specific on pricing, the industry veteran indicated...

Issuance of single-family rental securitizations has been lagging this year, but a new offering from Progress Residential suggests that demand for deals could be headed northward. In a somewhat uncommon move last week, Progress increased a planned issuance after presale reports on the deal were already published. “The transaction sponsor elected...

Policymakers should make a number of changes to regulations to entice investors to buy new non-agency mortgage-backed securities, according to officials at Pacific Investment Management Company. PIMCO was a major investor in pre-crisis non-agency MBS. “Unlike the complexities of government-sponsored enterprise reform, a few minor, straightforward changes – some of which can be done through regulation, not legislation – can be made to bring private capital back to the market ...

Bipartisan Flood Bill Introduced in Senate. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs will soon consider a bipartisan bill introduced this week that would keep the National Flood Insurance Program funded for six more years and create new risk mitigation procedures for communities to follow.Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-ID, and ranking Democrat Sherrod Brown, OH, said the bill would serve as a template for consideration by the whole committee. The Senate bill does not include core provisions in the House version, including the development of a private flood insurance market to complement the NFIP. In addition, the bill does not call for cuts in the reimbursement rate for Write-Your-Own flood-insurance carriers that service NFIP policies. However, amendments are likely, according to Crapo and Brown. Meanwhile, the ...

The supply of single-family mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae grew by 0.5 percent during the second quarter, according to an exclusive analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Total agency MBS outstanding rose to $6.258 trillion at the end of June, which does not include whole loans held in Fannie and Freddie portfolios or government-insured loans repurchased from Ginnie pools. The market was 4.2 percent bigger than it was at the midway point in 2016. Ginnie continues...[Includes two data tables]

The House Appropriations Committee this week approved a fiscal year 2018 funding bill for the Department of Housing and Urban Development with a $135 million allocation for systems enhancements, quality control and risk management improvements in lieu of a proposed lender fee. Approved by a vote of 31 to 20, the bill provides HUD with $38.3 billion in discretionary funding for FY 2018, down $487 million from the current level. The House measure authorizes...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $189.70 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter of 2017, a 13.1 percent drop from the first three months of the year. A new ranking and analysis by Inside The GSEs reveals that much of the decline resulted from a slowdown among large banks and thrifts. The four banks with over $1 trillion in assets delivered just $43.23 billion of home loans into Fannie/Freddie MBS during the second quarter. That was down 29.1 percent from the previous period, knocking the group’s combined market share down from 27.9 percent in the first quarter to 22.8 percent.

Pricing disparity between the GSEs has almost disappeared since single-security efforts began, according to a new paper by the Urban Institute. The authors called the progress on the initiative an “unheralded success” in a paper released this week. In 2012 and 2013, Freddie’s 3, 3.5, and 4 percent coupons traded at more than a $0.30 discount to Fannie Mae’s. That number narrowed to about $0.15 in 2014 and 2015 and by early 2017 it had largely converged, said the UI. “Interestingly, the pricing disparity has all but disappeared since the single-security effort began,” said Laurie Goodman, Jim Parrott and Bing Bai, authors of the study.