While jumbo MBS issued in recent years have performed exceptionally well, some senior-support bonds on new jumbo MBS have credit risks similar to what was experienced during the financial crisis, according to analysts at Andrew Davidson & Co. In a recent analysis, Richard Ellson and Allison Ying raised concerns about the super-senior structures that have become common on jumbo MBS in recent years. They noted that when Redwood Trust started working to revive jumbo MBS issuance in 2010, the issuer used a much simpler structure. However, in the past few years, Redwood and many other issuers have increasingly used...

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development this week approved a fiscal 2016 HUD appropriations bill, with language that would bar FHA, Ginnie Mae or HUD from deploying federal funds to foster the use of eminent domain to seize mortgages. “None of the funds made available in this act shall be used by [the three agencies] to insure, securitize or establish a federal guarantee of any mortgage or MBS that refinances or otherwise replaces a mortgage that has been subject to eminent domain condemnation or seizure, by a state, municipality or any other political subdivision of a state,” states Section 229 of the legislation. The Structured Finance Industry Group said...

The Treasury Department is making progress corralling various participants in the non-agency mortgage-backed security market, slowly prompting changes aimed at attracting large investors. The effort started nearly a year ago, when Michael Stegman, counselor to the Treasury on housing finance policy, first proposed the issuance of a benchmark transaction in November. “The benchmark transaction process has reset relationships among transaction parties and is ...

Credit Suisse and Redwood Trust, the two dominant jumbo mortgage-backed securities issuers since 2010, continue to differ in terms of jumbo MBS offerings. While their latest deals include a number of similarities involving credit characteristics, the Redwood deal includes a relatively high share of non-qualified mortgages. The $356.45 million Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2015-2 received AAA ratings with credit enhancement of 5.00 percent on the senior tranche. That’s the lowest ...

VA home loan guaranty originations nearly caught up with FHA single-family volume in the first quarter of 2015, thanks to a strong pickup in veteran loan refinancings, an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie Mae issuance data indicated. Refi loans accounted for 58.5 percent of VA loans securitized in the first quarter compared to just 34.4 percent of FHA loans in Ginnie mortgage-backed securities. Approximately $35.0 billion in VA loans were securitized in Ginnie Mae MBS in the first quarter, up 5.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014. On the other hand, $35.6 billion of FHA loans were securitized during the same period, down 1.8 percent from the prior quarter. Of the VA loans in Ginnie MBS, $14.5 billion were purchase mortgages, mostly delivered through retail and loan correspondents. Brokers accounted for only 8.5 percent of the purchase loans. Securitized VA purchase volume, however, was ... [2 charts]

VA Clarifies HUD-1 Itemization Requirements. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Home Loan Guaranty office has issued guidance clarifying HUD-1 documentation and itemization requirements. The HUD-1 is a statement lenders furnish to borrowers at closing showing the actual settlement costs, including amounts paid to and by the settlement agent. The guidance clarifies and establishes VA policy regarding the following: itemization of lender/seller credits in the 200 series of the HUD-1; itemization of line 801 on the HUD-1; clarification that credits reflected on line 803 of the HUD-1 cannot offset allowable fees’ and itemization of line 802 on the HUD-1. Ginnie Mae Announces Update to Securitization of USDA Section 538 Multifamily Loans. Ginnie Mae has enhanced the securitization of rural, multifamily housing loans with a Department of Agriculture guaranty to make affordable housing available to ...

Mortgage lenders originated an estimated $360.0 billion of first-lien home loans during the first three months of 2015, lifting the market to its strongest quarterly volume since the third quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. The first-quarter total originations estimate does not include home-equity lending, which many lenders consider a separate business from traditional mortgage lending. In the past, Inside Mortgage Finance included home-equity in total originations, and those market estimates are not being revised. In 2014, about 5.7 percent of total originations ($71.0 billion) were home-equity loans. A number of survey participants have reported...[Includes two data charts]

The new government-sponsored enterprise low-downpayment programs have met a mixed reaction among lenders. While some said they expect to see an uptick in mortgage activity, others noted the product accounts for just a small percentage of their firms’ business and won’t have much of an impact on origination volume. Fannie Mae’s low-downpayment program kicked off in December 2014, and Freddie Mac implemented its program in March 2015. So far, the volume of low-downpayment purchase loans in GSE business is relatively small. Fannie securitized...

Funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities issued the first multi-borrower single family rental security this week and the market appears to be set to grow throughout the year, according to industry analysts. The $229.53 million B2R Mortgage Trust 2015-1 was issued this week with AAA ratings from Fitch Ratings. “We think...

Firms hoping that new guaranty fee and loan-level price adjustments promulgated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency might boost the jumbo MBS market were sorely disappointed when the final details were released by the agency late last week. One executive who works for a real estate investment trust that issues jumbos said it’s clear to him that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are continuing to “misprice” their g-fees. He would love...