The supply of mortgage debt outstanding continued to decline in the second quarter of 2011, reaching levels not seen in nearly five years. The Federal Reserve reported that single-family mortgage debt totaled $10.396 trillion as of the end of June, down 0.5 percent from the end of the previous quarter. It marked the 13th consecutive quarterly decline in the mortgage servicing business, which has shrunk by $783.2 billion since peaking in the first quarter of 2008 at $11.179 trillion. The only sector of the market thats growing is the Ginnie Mae program, where the supply of the agencys single-family mortgage securities...(Includes one data chart)
Banks, thrifts and credit unions expanded their stakes in the residential MBS market over the first half of 2011 as most other major investor classes pulled back from the market, according to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. But the profile of the MBS investment community will likely continue to change as the Federal Reserve has opted to resume buying agency MBS in an effort to stimulate the economy by pushing long-term interest rates lower. While the result of resumed Fed MBS purchases is uncertain, the Federal Open Market Committees decision to reinvest payments on the Feds agency MBS back into...(Includes one data chart)
A proposal from federal regulators to change servicer compensation on future Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS to a fee-for-service model could also end up addressing a major investor beef about the non-agency MBS market: poor servicing of distressed loans and misaligned interests. The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week released a discussion paper outlining a radical change from an existing system that pays Fannie and Freddie servicers a minimum servicing fee regardless of the loan status. The proposed system features a low flat fee for handling performing loans with increased compensation for...
Wall Street MBS insiders met this week to talk about making Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS backed by high loan-to-value refinance mortgages eligible for the to-be-announced market. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association held a telephone conference call to discuss the issue, a SIFMA representative confirmed, but the group declined to provide any details. Mortgages with LTV ratios above 105 percent can be sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the Home Affordable Refinance Program, but these loans must be pooled in separate MBS that are not eligible for the TBA market. HARP loans with...(Includes one data chart)
The Treasury Market Practices Group late last week clarified its recommended fails charge trading practice for agency MBS to limit the scope to pass-throughs, where fails are most likely to happen. The agency debt and agency MBS trading practice has been updated to reflect the TMPGs recommendation that a fails charge apply to agency pass-through MBS issued or guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, the group said. The original recommendation was that the charge apply to agency MBS issued or backed by Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie Mae, which also issue most REMICs backed by agency pass-throughs. The TMPG has not...
The share of mortgage loans that were held in portfolio rather than sold into the secondary market rose for the second consecutive year in 2010, but that may have more to do with the peculiarities of the rules for complying with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. A Federal Reserve analysis of the lastest HMDA data found that portfolio lending, especially involving owner-occupied refinance loans, has risen since the beginning of 2009 but is still far short of the levels portfolio lenders achieved in 2004 and 2005. Overall, originators held a total of 1.30 million mortgages in portfolio in 2010, with...
Now may be a good time for ABS investors to broaden their horizons and look into exotic asset classes, such as solar panel financing. Over the past few decades, most of the sheer volume of securitizations has come from the cash flows of consumer asset receivables, such as mortgages, credit cards and auto loans, said Chris DiAngelo, a partner with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in New York City, who moderated an industry discussion on nontraditional securitizations sponsored by the American Securitization Forum this week. Although the auto market has returned to relatively normal issuance volumes, mortgage and...
The supply of MBS in the market edged slightly higher in the second quarter of 2011, appearing to stem a nearly two-year decline in the market, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. A total of $6.58 trillion of MBS were outstanding at the end of June, up 0.3 percent from the first quarter. The MBS market was still down 1.7 percent from a year ago. All of the growth came from Ginnie Mae and Fannie Mae. The supply of Ginnie single-family MBS rose 4.0 percent in the first quarter, hitting a record $1.12 trillion and extending a vigorous growth trend since the housing market began to unravel in 2007. Ginnie MBS accounted for...(Includes one data chart)
Redwood Trust is set to issue a non-agency mortgage-backed security backed by $375.2 million in jumbo mortgages, marking the issuers and the mortgage markets second new jumbo deal this year. Fitch Ratings is giving a AAA rating based on its new tougher standards, though it remains unclear whether another service will rate the transaction. A presale report issued last week by Fitch noted the strong characteristics of Redwoods Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2011-2. ...
Granting the chief financial officer additional oversight authority as proposed by House Republicans would be excessive for a relatively small agency such as Ginnie Mae, the agencys president told lawmakers. Testifying during a recent House subcommittee hearing on legislative proposals on FHA and Ginnie Mae reform, Ginnie Mae President Ted Tozer said that while he understands the committees concerns about the agencys financial condition, he believes the provision is not necessary. Among other things, the proposal would give Ginnie Maes CFO a greater hand in overseeing operations to ensure that the agency is not...