An uptick in mortgage interest rates has reduced rate-term refinance volume but demand from borrowers for cash-out refis and home-equity loans appears to remain relatively strong. “When we look at the landscape for home-equity extraction, we see potential tailwinds from loan-to-value ratio and credit curing combined with slightly less stringent lending standards helping bolster borrower demand,” analysts at Wells Fargo Securities said in a report last week. Borrower LTV ratios have been helped...

Fannie Mae recently completed its first single-family rental securitization deal with a large institutional investor and the Urban Institute said demand for SFR financing is likely to grow. The $1 billion deal with Invitation Homes was announced in January as a pilot program. The Dallas-based company is the largest single-family rental operator in the U.S. and has a portfolio of about 50,000 homes that it acquires from foreclosures. As investors increasingly rely on leverage to earn an acceptable rate of return, these kinds of transactions are expected...

The non-agency MBS market is set to receive a jolt as Wells Fargo plans to return to the space. “This year, one of our aspirations is to come back to the market with a couple of deals,” said Franklin Codel, a senior executive vice president of consumer lending at Wells. “We’re taking a look to make sure we can structure those properly … to try to test the market and see what we can do to bring some confidence back to the private-label market.” The official mentioned the plans late last week during an investor event hosted by Wells. Back in 2007, Wells ranked...

The average daily trading volume in agency MBS totaled $195.7 billion in April, the lowest reading of the year and third worst over the past 12 months, according to figures compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. The low trading volume is an indication that liquidity is drying up, but it also reflects a decline in new agency MBS being created. According to figures recently compiled by Inside MBS & ABS, lenders issued...

A unique disclosure Freddie Mac is providing in risk-sharing transactions can help provide MBS investors with forward-looking insight about mortgage performance, according to an analysis by Kroll Bond Rating Agency. Freddie started disclosing updated loan-to-value ratios for mortgages in its Structured Agency Credit Risk transactions in March 2016. On a quarterly basis, the government-sponsored enterprise discloses the estimated current LTVs based on Home Value Explorer (HVE), its proprietary automated valuation model. Connecticut Avenue Securities risk-sharing transactions from Fannie Mae don’t include a similar disclosure. KBRA noted...

Although bulk transfers of mortgage-servicing rights were down somewhat in the first quarter, sales advisors are reporting strong activity for the period including more buyer interest and a firming up of prices, even on Ginnie Mae product. According to affiliated newsletter Inside Mortgage Trends, bulk agency MSR transfers that closed in the first quarter were down 35.9 percent from the fourth to $77.3 billion. The biggest downturn was in Fannie Mae product, due to a temporary freeze on bulk transfers as servicers adjusted to new investor reporting requirements. Freddie Mac transfers were actually up from the fourth quarter. More banks and consortiums are extending...

The securitization of income-property mortgages nosedived in the first quarter of 2017, with most of the downturn in the volatile non-agency sector, according to an Inside MBS & ABS analysis. A total of $48.29 billion of MBS backed by commercial properties was issued in the first quarter, down 27.7 percent from the previous period. Although production was down 6.1 percent from the same period in 2016, it was close to the average quarterly volume of $49.35 billion that the market has produced since the beginning of 2014. The average for the 2011-2013 period was just $32.00 billion. Average volume is...[Includes one data table]

Investors had a strong appetite for new non-agency MBS in the first quarter of 2017, according to issuers. “I am continuously amazed by how quickly we bring a deal out and how quickly the senior bonds gets sold,” Matthew Lambiase, president and CEO of Chimera Investment, said during the real estate investment trust’s earnings call for the first quarter. Chimera issued...

An affiliate of NMI Holdings, Emeryville, CA, has issued a $211.3 million, 10-year credit-linked bond aimed at laying off risk at its mortgage insurance affiliate National MI. The notes were issued by NMI affiliate Oaktown Re Ltd. in three tranches: $98.61 million that filled the M-1 class, $98.61 million (M-2), and $14.1 million (B-1). The yields, respectively, are LIBOR plus 225 basis points, LIBOR plus 400 basis points, and LIBOR plus 575 bps. According to Robert Smith, National MI senior vice president of pricing and portfolio analytics, investors that bought the credit-linked notes were...

Issuance of ABS backed by nonprime personal installment loans is expected to increase, according to S&P Global Ratings. The rating service hasn’t assigned AAA ratings to such ABS, though S&P said it will approach each deal on a case-by-case basis. Between 2013 and 2016, $10.50 billion of ABS backed by branch-based unsecured personal installment loans was issued, according to S&P. The rating service highlighted the sector recently, noting that personal installment loans don’t receive as much attention as marketplace lending, which had $15.10 billion in MBS and ABS issuance between 2013 and 2016. “Branch-based fixed-rate, fixed-term unsecured personal installment loans may not be...