Heavy refinance activity in the first half of 2015 caused a significant shift in the kinds of single-family MBS produced by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. Issuance of MBS backed by adjustable-rate mortgages has dropped sharply in 2015, and ARMs haven’t had much of a presence for years. ARM MBS production by Fannie and Freddie in the first half of 2015 was down 20.1 percent from a year ago. The drop in Ginnie ARM securitization was less severe, 18.3 percent, but ARMs accounted for an even smaller share of overall production (1.7 percent) at Ginnie than the 2.9 percent share they had in government-sponsored enterprise MBS. Oddly, the heavy refinance market in the first half of 2015 did not appear...[Includes two data tables]

The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee this week concluded its 53rd consecutive meeting without raising interest rates, issuing a statement that provided no hint whatsoever that such an increase would occur this year, notwithstanding previous commentary and the wishes of many on Wall Street. “To support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability, the committee today reaffirmed its view that the current 0 to 0.25 percent target range for the federal funds rate remains appropriate,” said the Fed in its now-boilerplate language. In determining how long to maintain this target range, the FOMC said...

Ginnie Mae this week adopted a prior-approval policy for mortgage servicers that switch subservicers, bring subservicing in-house or move in-house servicing to subservicers. Noting an increasing number of companies that are making such changes in their servicing operations, the agency said some mandatory reporting requirements are getting lost in the shuffle. Effective immediately, any Ginnie issuer that wants to bring servicing in-house from a subservicer must get the agency’s prior written approval, according to All-Participants Memo 15-11. Existing rules require...

A rebound in multifamily MBS issuance by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae pushed total securitization of commercial mortgages up slightly in the second quarter of 2015. A total of $53.96 billion of income-property mortgages were securitized in the second quarter, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS market analysis. That was up a scant 0.6 percent from the first quarter of 2015. All of the gain came...

Moody’s Investors Service is worried about increasing leverage in commercial MBS conduit deals, which reached peak levels not seen since 2007. Issuance of non-agency commercial MBS has been strong in recent years, boosted by demand for conduit deals. In a recent report, Moody’s noted that the credit quality of conduit deals continues to deteriorate, with the third-quarter pipeline indicating further increases to loan-to-value ratios derived by the rating service. The Moody’s LTV ratio on conduit CMBS hit...

Bank holdings of MBS have increased significantly this year, with the growth concentrated among large banks. Industry analysts suggest that large banks have increased their MBS holdings due to capital requirements, and demand is expected to persist for months to come, pushing up MBS prices. The 25 largest banks held a combined $1.15 trillion in MBS as of the end of June, according to an Inside MBS & ABS analysis of data from the Federal Reserve. The holdings increased by $63.90 billion compared with the end of 2014 and coincide with an increase in deposits at banks. “MBS performance so far this year owes...

With bond prices expected to fall further and interest rates headed north, analysts who cover mortgage-investing real estate investment trusts are sharpening their knives on the sector. The general consensus is that share prices are going nowhere fast and returns are no longer attractive. A new report on mortgage REITs from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods doesn’t mince words: “Sentiment on the mREIT sector remains pretty poor, and we don’t anticipate 2Q15 results to do much to improve that. We’re not expecting a horrible quarter, but we anticipate slight disappointment along more or less all relevant dimensions.” Although many mortgage REITs have yet to report second-quarter earnings, the early expectations are...

Market factors are more favorably disposed toward non-agency MBS in the second half of the year than for agency bonds, according to a mid-year review and outlook from Deutsche Bank. “For the second half of 2015, we are cautiously optimistic for the non-agency MBS market, given the favorable fundamentals and technicals,” said Deutsche Bank analysts, who expect home price appreciation and servicer practices to continue to be the two biggest drivers of the MBS credit. On the technical front, the most important factor that affected legacy RMBS is...

JPMorgan Chase last week ended six years of litigation by agreeing to a $388 million settlement to resolve allegations that the bank misled investors about the quality of pre-crisis MBS they had purchased. Still requiring court approval, the settlement would conclude one of the last remaining MBS purchaser class actions arising out of the financial crisis, according to plaintiff attorneys. The suit was filed...

Investors interested in the jumbo mortgage-backed security from JPMorgan Chase that’s set to be issued next week received new disclosures with sometimes confusing information thanks to a rule from the Securities and Exchange Commission. JPMorgan Mortgage Trust 2015-4 will have a balance of $388.34 million, according to presale reports published last week by Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Moody’s Investors Service. A week before the presale reports ...