International Value Advisors recently cut its stake in Annaly Capital Management – the nation’s largest mortgage real estate investment trust – by roughly half, a development that could be repeated by other investors as rising rates cause new concerns about MBS prices. At year-end, International owned 4.55 percent of Annaly compared to 9.60 percent a year earlier. Annaly’s largest investment is in agency MBS, of which it owned $73.5 billion at Sept. 30. The publicly traded REIT is...

The residential MBS market is expected to be healthy this year, according to some ratings service analysts. But the new president is the big unknown, market participants say. According to analysts at Fitch Ratings, the rating outlook for U.S. RMBS they rate is auspicious, as they expect asset performance trends to stay positive thanks to support from solid, if somewhat uneven, gains in home prices. “Although a number of legacy transactions continue to face negative rating pressure due to declining loan counts and tail risk, rating upgrades outnumbered...

Credit quality for the loans backing unique warehouse-funding securitizations from Jefferies Funding remains strong, according to Moody’s Investors Service. One of the risks was that weaker collateral could be included in the transactions as time passed. The $225.0 million Station Place Securitization Trust 2016-1 received Aaa ratings from Moody’s last February and a $210.0 million 2016-3 transaction issued in May garnered an with Aaa rating. The rating service evaluated the deals recently as the 2016-1 securitization is set to pay down next month. “To date, there has been...

After a two-year rollercoaster ride through the court system that ended in 2015, a former Wall Street trader finds himself facing another trial in an MBS fraud case. Jess Litvak, a former bond trader with the Jeffries Group, will go on trial again after a jury found him guilty in 2014 of violating securities laws. He was accused of fraud and misleading investors about the price he had paid for residential MBS. According to attorneys with the law firm of Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas in Houston, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Connecticut originally brought...

The jumbo mortgage-backed security Redwood Trust is set to issue on Jan. 20 received improved pricing compared with the company’s previous deal issued in October. The new MBS is fairly similar to the prior bond, indicating stronger demand from investors. The $343.28 million Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2017-1 priced last week. The super-senior tranche priced 1-20 back of Fannie 3.5s, which was four ticks tighter than Redwood’s previous offering, according to an analysis by Wells Fargo Securities ...

Large swaths of investors will continue to avoid buying non-agency mortgage-backed securities unless Congress passes investor-friendly reforms, according to Chris Katopis, executive director of the Association of Mortgage Investors. “Private capital has virtually left the U.S. mortgage market,” he said. “The future is likely to reflect a similar situation unless Congress helps establish the necessary systems, structures and standards for private capital to return.” In a recent study published by ...

The Department of Justice this week finalized previously announced settlements with Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse regarding non-agency mortgage-backed security activities in the run-up to the financial crisis. The DOJ said the $7.20 billion settlement with Deutsche Bank was the single largest residential MBS resolution for the conduct of a single entity. The settlement with Credit Suisse was for $5.28 billion. Both of the settlements included civil penalties and ... [Includes two briefs]

Mortgage default rates appeared to spike higher in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to a new analysis and servicer ranking by Inside FHA/VA Lending. Some 5.51 percent of FHA loans in Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities pools were reported as 30- to 60-days past due at the end of December. That was up 80 basis points from the previous quarter and was easily the highest default rate in the past three years. FHA default rates were also up in more serious delinquency categories: loans 60- to 90-days past due and those over 90-days late. The figures are based on loan count and are not seasonally adjusted. Similar trends occurred in the VA home loan guaranty program. The 30-60 category was up 41 bps, while 90+ delinquencies jumped 19 bps. The supply of Ginnie single-family MBS outstanding continued to set new records. The total, not including multifamily and FHA home-equity conversion ... [4 charts]

VA originations have been trending upward over several quarters, thanks to an unusually heavy share of refinance business, but all good things, at some point, must slow down, lenders say. The refinance business overall has fallen to 45 percent from 55 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, and that will have an effect on VA originations in the first quarter of 2017, said Andy May, chief operating officer of the American Armed Forces Mutual Aid Association Mortgage Division. Going forward, May expects VA originations to fall by 10 percent in the first quarter due to rising interest rates. But even though rates have been trending up, May saw an uptick in VA loan applications in January as fence-sitters jumped into the market to take out a loan before rates went any higher. “The MBA estimates rates will rise above 5 percent in the next 24 months and then down to 4.8 percent by the end of 2018, and up to 5.3 percent at the ...

The 25-basis-point decrease in the FHA’s annual insurance premiums translates not only to annual savings for homeowners but also boosts the competitiveness of housing finance agency loan products, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service. The report regards the latest FHA pricing adjustment as credit positive for housing finance agencies (HFAs) because it would make FHA loans more affordable to borrowers and increase HFA loan originations. The announcement to reduce the annual mortgage insurance premium to its lowest allowable level took stakeholders by surprise. In November, FHA had no plans to lower premiums despite an uplifting actuarial report on the condition of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. This week, however, there is uncertainty as to whether the Trump administration will allow the reduced premiums to take effect for new loans closing on or after ...