There may be more room for private investors in the secondary mortgage market sooner than ex-pected, if congressional testimony this week from Federal Reserve Gov. Jerome Powell, President Trump’s nominee to replace Fed chief Janet Yellen, is a reliable indicator.

Commercial banks and savings institutions boosted their holdings of residential MBS to a record $1.839 trillion during the third quarter, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis.

Ginnie Mae has been without a permanent president for roughly 10 months now, but so far inves-tors don’t seem to be balking at buying agency MBS. But that doesn’t mean the market – as well as stakeholders – aren’t getting nervous about the situation.

Consumer debt reached a new high at the end of the third quarter of 2017, surpassing levels seen in the run-up to the financial crisis and prompting concerns about the systemic risk to MBS and ABS investors posed by consumer leverage.

Mortgage banker David Kittle, a candidate for Ginnie Mae president, has informed the White House and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson that he is no longer interested in the position, according to industry sources. Kittle, a founding partner and vice chairman of the Mortgage Collaborative, an industry vendor, could not be reached for comment. Kittle was first approached by the White House nine months ago about the job. A background check on the potential nominee was reportedly underway but he was never officially nominated. The industry veteran began his mortgage-banking career as a loan officer with American Fletcher Mortgage Co. He is a past chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, completing his term in October 2009. A Republican, he also once served as president of the Kentucky Mortgage Bankers Association. Kittle’s withdrawal leaves the ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac set aside a combined $1.9 billion to cover potential losses to MBS collateral from the powerful hurricanes that slammed the U.S. and its territories this fall. Ginnie Mae, meanwhile, hasn’t issued an update on affected loans in several weeks, but the government guarantor is trying to stay optimistic.

Real estate mortgage investment trusts continued to build up their agency MBS investment port-folios during the third quarter, though most REITs had a more difficult time in the less-liquid non-agency MBS market.

Credit Suisse and MBIA Insurance Corp. continued their wrangling in New York state appellate court in a $235 million MBS securities lawsuit brought by the bond guarantor in 2009.

Nonprime lenders allow credit scores as low as 500 and loan-to-value ratios up to 90.0 percent, but new originations don’t typically reach such extremes. According to an analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets, the average credit score on loans in nonprime/Alt A mortgage-backed securities issued in recent years was 701.1. The average combined LTV ratio for the loans was 74.9 percent and the average debt-to-income ratio was 37.0 percent. The analysis ... [Includes one data chart]

Annaly Capital Management increased its agency MBS holdings by 16.1 percent in the third quarter. Its closest competitor among real estate investment trusts specializing in the space, AGNC In-vestment Corp., pushed up its investment by 13.3 percent.