The average daily trading volume in agency MBS totaled $219.3 billion in July, the best reading in 18 months, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. However, the sequential improvement was a mere 3.30 percent. Then again, any gain is better than none. For all of 2016, the worst reading came in March at $189.4 billion. The strong showing (relatively speaking) comes as the primary market has produced a better-than-expected $890 billion for the first six months of 2016. Some industry executives believe loan originations could top $2 trillion this year, which would increase the supply of outstanding MBS. For the past few years there has been a debate in the industry about the significance of lower trading ...

The FHA’s and VA’s acceptance of residential properties with existing senior PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) liens is credit positive for asset-backed securities backed by PACE assessments and could have a mixed effect on some residential mortgage-backed securities, according to a new analysis by Moody’s Investors Services. The move is expected to expand the availability of mortgage financing for purchasers of homes with PACE obligations as well as ...

A ruling late last year by a state appeals court in New York threatens to upend the practice of providing “gap” or “bridge down” representations and warranties on residential MBS, according to a brief submitted on behalf of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. SIFMA asked the New York State Court of Appeals to reverse the lower court’s ruling in Bank of New York Mellon v. WMC Mortgage. Lawyers at the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan submitted an amicus brief to the N.Y. State Court of Appeals on behalf of SIFMA regarding the case. “The court’s resolution of this issue could have...

Almost three months after word leaked out that Angel Oak Capital Advisors was working on a second nonprime MBS, the transaction has yet to come to market. Sources close to the company, maintain that a deal is still in the works – it’s just a matter of when. The company had planned to sell a roughly $150 million MBS backed by nonprime residential loans funded by affiliates Angel Oak Home Loans, a retail shop based in Atlanta, and Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions, a wholesaler that originates through loan brokers. Presently, the Angel Oak firms are churning out...

Fannie Mae’s new securitization program for modified single-family mortgages could generate as much as $24 billion in issuance, according to an analysis by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The program will create “an asset class meriting investor focus,” BAML noted. Fannie recently released...

Freddie Mac will publish a new set of disclosures to help the market track the exchange of its legacy MBS with a 45-day payment delay to a 55-day cycle under the new Single Security, according to a new update from the government-sponsored enterprise. A key disclosure involves the creation of “mirror securities” that help investors track how much of an existing MBS has been exchanged for the new securities. Mirror securities will be created for Freddie’s current participation certificates as well as second-level Giants that are comprised of PCs. Before new Single Securities are created, Freddie will create...

Progress Residential is preparing to issue a new single-family rental security that will lead to the payoff of a $473.2 million deal issued by the firm in 2014. The payoff will mark the first time a single-family rental security has prepaid, according to industry analysts. The planned Progress 2016-SFR1 is a single-borrower single-family rental securitization that was initially planned to be backed by a $657.27 million loan secured by mortgages on 4,068 rental homes, according to ratings by Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Moody’s Investors Service and Morningstar Credit Ratings. A portion of the proceeds will fund the prepayment of Progress 2014-SFR1. The deal issued...

Ginnie Mae issuers produced a hefty $125.42 billion of new single-family mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter of 2016, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of MBS data. The government-insured market continued to run hotter than the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sector. Ginnie MBS issuance – including FHA’s home-equity conversion mortgage program – was up 31.1 percent from the first quarter, while single-family MBS issuance by the two government-sponsored enterprises rose 26.2 percent over the same period. Excluding HECM, Ginnie issuance was up 31.5 percent in the second quarter. While FHA forward mortgages continued to be the biggest source of collateral, the VA program actually produced a bigger gain, 42.4 percent, from the first to the second quarter. VA production saw a major boost in refinance activity, up 58.4 ... [Includes four charts ]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securitized $58.61 billion of single-family home loans that carried private mortgage insurance during the second quarter of 2016, a solid 33.0 percent increase over the first three months of the year, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. The boost in private MI business was slightly stronger than the 26.2 percent increase in overall single-family mortgage-backed securities issuance for the two government-sponsored enterprises during the same period. Overall, the biggest increase in GSE business during the second quarter was...[Includes two data tables]

Fitch Ratings recently updated its U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities rating criteria, partly to include adjustments to due diligence grades having to do with the CFPB’s Truth in Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure rule, otherwise known as TRID. Fitch said it expects that participating third-party due-diligence review firms will determine whether mortgages being reviewed for inclusion in MBS have been closed in compliance with the disclosure rule. Further, the ratings service said it would request that due diligence firms grading loans determine whether the findings are more likely to carry statutory damages and assignee liability or just assignee liability. When it comes to grading TRID loans under the revised criteria, Fitch said unresolved errors that carry an increased ...