A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals that nonbank mortgage lenders have dramatically increased their share of new production over the past two years. Nonbank lenders captured an impressive 48.1 percent share of mortgage originations during the first quarter of 2016, in a database of over 170 lenders. That was up from just 39.1 percent two years ago in early 2014, and 45.2 percent in the first quarter of 2015. While new first-lien origination volume by the 88 banks in the database fell 4.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2015, the 81 nonbanks managed...[Includes two data tables]

First-time homebuyers account for a growing share of home purchases, and even though housing inventory is limited, originations of mortgages for first-time homebuyers are up sharply. First-time homebuyers accounted for 40.8 percent of home purchases in May, according to results from the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. The share for first-time homebuyers, based on a three-month moving average, was the highest level seen in more than five years. “Demand from first-time homebuyers is...

Ginnie Mae securitization of rural home loans got off to a wobbly start in the first quarter of 2016 as securitization volume fell 13.8 percent from the prior quarter, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of Ginnie data. Approximately $3.9 billion in loans with a USDA guarantee were securitized during the first three months, with the top five issuers accounting for $2.1 billion of mortgage-backed securities produced by the segment during the period. USDA securitization volume dropped 9.2 percent year over year. Top USDA issuer Chase Home Finance accounted for $1.2 billion of securitized rural housing loans, while PennyMac, in distant second place, finished the quarter with $378.5 million. Wells Fargo ($294.0 million), Pacific Union Financial ($122.8 million) and Amerihome Mortgage ($102.2 million), in sequential order, comprised the rest of the top five issuers. Pacific Union climbed over ...

Fannie Mae plans to start issuing MBS backed by single-family, fixed-rate re-performing mortgages later this year. This week, the government-sponsored enterprise detailed some of the types of loans that will be included in the planned issuance. Both loans that cured on their own and mortgages that received a modification will be eligible for the new RPL securitization program. Among other factors, the mortgages must have been performing for at least six months. Loans modified via the Home Affordable Modification Program will be eligible for the MBS along with loans modified through the GSE’s proprietary mod programs. A number of different loan types will be excluded...

The weighted average loan loss severity for U.S. commercial MBS was 49.3 percent for the 139 loans liquidated in the first three months of 2016, versus 58.2 percent for 240 loans liquidated in the last three months of 2015, which was the highest quarterly loss severity since 2010, Moody’s Investors Service said in a new quarterly report. However, “In both quarters, severities topped the weighted average of 42.8 percent for loans liquidated between Jan. 1, 2000, and March 31, 2016,” the ratings service added. The Moody’s report tracks...

In anticipation of plans to securitize loans that had been previously delinquent, this week Fannie Mae announced that it will release historical data on some 700,000 re-performing loans. The release, scheduled for July, will include updated credit scores and loan-to-value ratios at issuance. This coincides with Fannie’s efforts to become more transparent and give the market the ability to analyze how these re-performing loans, or RPLs, have performed over ...

Moody’s Investors Service assigned its first “Green Bond Assessment” last week to an MBS backed by Dutch mortgages that were selected on the basis of the underlying properties’ energy efficiency. The rating service said it expects future “green transactions” from issuers such as financial institutions and governments. “Green bonds” are securities that raise capital for use in financing or refinancing projects and activities with specific climate or environmental sustainability purposes. Moody’s said green bonds include securitizations collateralized by projects or assets whose cash flows provide the first source of repayment, debt obligations with direct recourse to issuers and project finance or revenue bonds. Green Storm 2016 B.V. received...

FHA originations rose significantly in the first quarter of 2016 from the same period last year even as VA loan production decreased slightly, according to an analysis of Ginnie Mae data. Lenders delivered $54.4 billion of FHA-insured loans to Ginnie Mae for securitization during the first three months, up 36.2 percent from the previous year. In contrast, the volume of VA loans securitized over the same period, $35.0 billion, fell 1.5 percent compared to the same period a year ago. A strong purchase-mortgage market drove FHA activity from January to March. The reduction in FHA’s annual insurance premium in January 2015 continued to have an impact on FHA’s purchase-loan market share. In 2015, FHA purchase originations accounted for $151.0 billion of the estimated $881.0 billion in total purchase originations (conventional and government single-family forward originations), according to ... [ 2 charts ]

A California-based mortgage lender and six senior executives have agreed to pay $12.7 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve allegations they schemed to defraud investors in the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities with a Ginnie Mae guarantee. The SEC complaint alleged that, from March 2011 to March 2015, Ginnie Mae issuer First Mortgage Corp. and its top executives pulled current performing loans out of Ginnie Mae MBS. The issuer falsely claimed that the loans were delinquent so that it could recycle them as newly issued MBS and sell them at a profit. FMC allegedly issued Ginnie Mae MBS prospectuses with false and misleading information by using a Ginnie Mae rule that allowed issuers to repurchase seriously delinquent loans. In addition, the SEC complaint alleged that FMC deliberately delayed depositing checks from borrowers who had been behind on ...

After nearly five years of legal entanglements, investors will soon receive their share of the $8.5 billion Bank of America agreed to pay in June 2011 to resolve legacy mortgage-repurchase and servicing claims associated with Countrywide Financial Corp. The payouts were delayed by legal wrangling over whether trustee Bank of New York Mellon had the authority to settle. Last year, the New York Supreme Court ruled in the trustee’s favor, and a state court judge recently approved the severance order and partial final judgment, which cleared the way for BNYM to begin distributing the settlement proceeds from 512 of the 530 trusts in the case. Twenty-two investors that suffered significant losses for their failed investment in MBS sold by Countrywide prior to the collapse of the housing market are...