Industry participants are gearing up for non-agency MBS backed by non-qualified mortgages, but don’t expect a flood of volume anytime soon. Four non-agency MBS backed by new nonprime mortgages were issued in 2015, the largest of which was a $150.35 million deal from Angel Oak Capital Advisors. None of the deals were subject to risk-retention requirements that took effect at the end of 2015 and none were rated. A rating on a non-QM MBS could improve...

Although the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is still months away from officially clarifying certain parts of its complicated integrated disclosure rule known as TRID, the secondary market – and some attorneys – are already breathing a sigh of relief. But the big question remains: how far will the agency go? And will it provide enough clarity to ease the fears of buyers about being sued for monetary errors? The rule, which integrated consumer disclosures under the Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, became...

After months of pleading by participants in the non-agency market, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray said the agency will issue formal guidance regarding the TRID mortgage disclosure rule. The announcement last week regarding issues involving requirements under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act prompted relief and apprehension among industry participants. And help for the non-agency market doesn’t appear to be moving quickly, as Cordray said the effort will start with a notice of proposed rulemaking in late July. Cordray revealed...

Retail loan originations account for most new VA lending, but the correspondent channel plays an outsized role in the FHA market, especially in purchase-mortgage lending, according to a new analysis of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities data by Inside FHA/VA Lending. Over half (51.1 percent) of VA loans securitized through Ginnie MBS in the first quarter of 2016 were retail originations, but only 39.1 percent of FHA loans came through that channel. The biggest source of FHA loans was correspondent lenders, which accounted for 45.8 percent of loans securitized during the first three months of this year. That was actually slightly below the 49.2 percent correspondent share of FHA loans back in 2014 and 46.8 percent last year. Correspondents accounted for well over half (53.9 percent) of FHA purchase mortgages during the first quarter, while playing a more ... [ 3 charts ]

Although several high-profile, publicly traded nonbank servicers are having a tough time turning a profit, non-depository institutions continued to build market share in mortgage servicing during the first quarter of 2016, a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking reveals. On the whole, mortgage servicing is somewhat stagnant. The top 50 servicers as of the end of March managed a combined portfolio of $7.266 trillion, down very slightly from the previous quarter. Servicing tied to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities managed a humble 0.2 percent gain in the first quarter, and the non-agency MBS market is still in the doldrums. It remains...[Includes two data tables]

The secondary market for mortgages with TRID errors has yet to lose any steam, even though it was anticipated that the action would fade by now. That’s the assessment of Jeff Bode, CEO of Mid America Mortgage, Addison, TX, one of the largest investors in loans with TRID problems. “It’s still pretty solid,” Bode told IMFnews, an affiliated publication. “But I don’t see how much longer it can last.” Bode noted that some of the mortgages he’s reviewing have errors that are so minor he’s surprised that secondary market investors are balking at them in the first place. Mid America buys such mortgages and “makes the cures” itself, the CEO noted. A secondary market for mortgages with TRID errors – jumbos ...

New MBS issuance backed by income-property mortgages fell in the first quarter of 2016 as all sectors of the market got off to a weak start in the new year, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. A total of $44.78 billion of commercial mortgages were securitized in the first three months of the year, down 11.8 percent from the fourth quarter. It marked the lowest three-month output since the second quarter of 2014, when $37.61 billion of commercial mortgages were securitized. Both sides of the industry saw...[Includes one data table]

The alternatives to credit ratings mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act aimed to address contributors to the financial crisis have their own challenges, according to a new report from the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research. John Soroushian, a research analyst for policy studies at the OFR, noted that before the financial crisis, rating services had an incentive to inflate ratings for MBS, ABS and other investments to expand their business. He said rating services were “key enablers” in the creation of MBS and collateralized-debt obligations. “Without ratings, it would have been...

Structured finance investors don’t have much of an appetite for new non-agency MBS, but they appear to be hungry for fast-food business securitizations. Taco Bell is the latest firm to enter the market, offering a $2.10 billion securitization. The planned Taco Bell Funding LLC Series 2016-1 received preliminary BBB ratings from Standard & Poor’s late last week. It’s the second whole-business securitization to price this year, following a $575.0 million deal involving Sonic Drive-In that also priced in April. The Taco Bell securitization is backed...

Mortgage lenders that have excelled at originating refinance loans posted steady and improving originations during the first quarter of 2016 while competitors that are more focused on the purchase-mortgage market generally saw declining production levels. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking shows that first-lien mortgage originations totaled an estimated $380.0 billion during the first three months of 2016, down slightly from the fourth quarter of last year. That estimate could change as more information becomes available, especially from major nonbank lenders that have not yet reported first-quarter originations data. Agency indicators were...[Includes two data tables]