The vacancy rate on homes that collateralize single-family rental securitizations rose ever so slightly to 4.3 percent in May, but high renewal rates on tenant leases were strong, according to figures compiled by Morningstar Research. The firm noted that the average retention rate rose for the fourth straight month and now stands at 79.8 percent “for the most recent data available.” Two SFR securitizations, including one from market leader Invitation Homes, paid off...

Redwood Trust is set to end a slight lull in its issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities with a new $349.46 million deal. The firm issued one jumbo MBS per month in the first three months of the year while planned Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2017-4 is set to close at the end of this month, according to presale reports by Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Moody’s Investors Service. At a recent investor conference, Marty Hughes, Redwood’s CEO, said...

Deephaven Mortgage LLC soon will issue its second securitization of nonprime mortgages of this year, a $250.1 million deal backed by a variety of loans that fall outside of the legal safe harbor for qualified-mortgage status. Presale reports from S&P Global and Kroll Bond Rating Agency indicate that 45.6 percent of the loans were acquired from Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions, with the rest coming from Deephaven. Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing will service all the loans. The mortgages were originated...

American International Group’s jumbo conduit has purchased a significant volume of mortgages in the past year and has plans to issue non-agency mortgage-backed securities. As of April, AIG Investments had purchased prime jumbo mortgages with an original balance of approximately $4.80 billion, according to Fitch Ratings. AIG launched its residential mortgage lending division in 2013 and has ramped up acquisition activity since then. Fitch recently assessed...

Ocwen Financial recently filed a lawsuit against Fidelity Information Services, which completed a two-year review of Ocwen as part of an order by the California Department of Business Oversight. Ocwen alleged that FIS submitted false, fraudulent and improper invoices for the review, including invoices from strip clubs and casinos. FIS has disputed the allegations. The Structured Finance Industry Group is...

Ginnie is adding more muscle to a performance-measurement tool to help improve mortgage-backed securities issuers’ ability to compare their performance with other issuers in terms of meeting agency requirements. Other enhancements to the Issuer Operation Performance Profile (IOPP) would increase scoring transparency and make performance reports clearer and easier to understand, the agency said. Introduced in 2015, the IOPP is essentially a performance scorecard to gauge effectiveness as a Ginnie issuer. Issuers are scored based on a pre-determined set of metrics for performance and for default. Each metric is weighted in the issuer’s overall performance score and – for single-family issuers only – default management score. If an issuer fails in one metric, it may be required to develop a remediation plan to improve performance. The number, type and weight of the metrics may be ...

Credit Suisse this week issued a $91.2 million non-agency MBS backed by seasoned FHA mortgages. CSMC 2017-FHA1 marked the first non-agency securitization of re-performing FHA mortgages since 2010. The deal received an A rating from DBRS and an A1 rating from Moody’s Investors Service with subordination of 16.50 percent on the senior tranche. Moody’s cited a number of credit “challenges,” including uncertainty about FHA insurance payouts for liquidated mortgages, insufficient information on loan modifications and weak representations and warranties. The mortgages in the deal have...

Ginnie Mae is making enhancements to a tool developed for MBS issuers to help them compare their performance with other issuers and to determine whether they are meeting agency expectations. Improvements to the Issuer Operation Performance Profile (IOPP) tool also would increase scoring transparency and make reports clearer and easier to understand, the agency said. The IOPP was introduced...

Purchase-mortgage lending saw a big drop in volume during the first quarter of 2017, but indicators suggest that the sector has been rebounding in recent months and will post a solid gain by the time the year is over. An estimated $205.0 billion of purchase mortgages were originated in the first quarter, a sizable 19.6 percent decline from the previous period. But with an even bigger 44.6 percent slump in refinance lending, purchase mortgages accounted for over half (53.2 percent) of total first-lien originations in the first three months of the year. It was...[Includes three data tables]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both announced new re-performing loan sale transactions this month as the two government-sponsored enterprises look for ways to shed illiquid assets. Fannie began marketing its first re-performing loan sale back in November to help reduce its balance sheet. The program continues to gain more traction with each sale. That first sale totaled $789.2 million in unpaid principal balance. Fannie has since announced...