HUD Delays Implementation of Short-Sale Participation Requirement. The implementation of the PFS Participation Requirement, which is found in Mortgagee Letter 2013-23, Updated Pre-Foreclosure Sale and Deed-in-Lieu-of-Foreclosure Requirements, has been delayed indefinitely. All other provisions included in the mortgagee letter remain in effect. Previous guidance on short-sale participation requirements also remain in effect until further notice. FHA to Consolidate Lender ID Numbers. The FHA will consolidate the lender identification numbers of those participating in both the FHA Title I and Title II programs, provided ...

Small lenders have accounted for a growing share of contributions to non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities. Some deals have included more than 70 lenders, with most of the lenders contributing less than 5 percent of the volume of mortgages included in a security. While the lenders’ individual contributions to a particular jumbo MBS are small, they add up to significant market share, particularly when issuers don’t identify the lenders in prospectus documents filed with the Securities ... [Includes two data charts]

A subsidiary of Nomura Holdings is preparing to issue a non-agency jumbo MBS, the Wall Street firm’s first deal backed by new production since 2007. Rising interest rates and concerns about investor demand don’t seem to have put a damper on non-agency MBS issuance, as Redwood Trust cranked out another jumbo deal last week and Springleaf Finance issued a security backed by vintage subprime mortgages this week. The $440.08 million non-agency jumbo MBS from Nomura Corporate Funding Americas is set to receive a AAA rating with credit enhancement of 7.60 percent on the top-rated tranche, according to a presale report released this week by Kroll Bond Rating Agency. The credit enhancement was increased due to geographic concentration risk because 74.0 percent of the mortgages to be included in NRP Mortgage Trust 2013-1 were originated in California. Fitch Ratings warned...

Credit unions held a total of $107.1 billion of MBS in their portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking of call report data. That was up 4.9 percent from the previous period, a relatively strong increase in a market where the supply of MBS outstanding has barely budged and the Federal Reserve represents a huge competitor for new issuance. Compared to a year ago, credit union MBS holdings were up 10.9 percent, while the total MBS market actually declined by 1.4 percent. Credit unions for the most part have ignored...[Includes one data chart]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw a marked decline in refinance business during the second quarter of 2013, but a strengthening housing market helped offset some of the lost volume. The two government-sponsored enterprises securitized $256.0 billion of single-family refinance loans during the second quarter, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance GSE Seller Profile, a quarterly statistical report based on loan-level, mortgage-backed securities disclosures. That was down 13.6 percent from ... [Includes two data charts]

A sharp downturn in refinance activity reduced Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s business volume during the second quarter of 2013, but the GSEs posted their strongest quarter in purchase-mortgage activity in four years, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. Fannie and Freddie issued $337.74 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter, a 5.1 percent decline from the first three months of the year. The decline put an end to an upward trend in GSE production that took hold during the third quarter of 2012. Despite this, Fannie and Freddie business was up 20.0 percent over the first six months of last year.

Shellpoint Partners issued its first non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security this week, which differs in a number of ways from non-agency MBS issued since 2010. The deal is an attempt to loosen – slightly – non-agency MBS underwriting standards, although the rating services were critical of the originator, New Penn Financial. Shellpoint Asset Funding Trust 2013-1 was initially planned as a $261.58 million non-agency MBS, according to presale reports issued last week. The deal was reportedly restructured ...

The preferences of investors and the rating services play a significant role in the characteristics of mortgages included in non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities, according to industry participants. “The rating agencies are a first part of the analysis, but investors in these bonds are paying very careful attention to these loan characteristics, to credit exceptions and to who the lenders are,” Peter Sack, a managing director at Credit Suisse, said this week at a webinar ...

Private MBS investors will likely see reduced competition from the Federal Reserve later this year if the central bank begins to slow down its purchases of agency MBS, but there is also likely to be a sharp drop in new MBS supply at the same time. The Federal Open Market Committee made no changes in its policy of adding $40 billion a month to its massive $1.165 trillion portfolio of agency MBS, in addition to reinvesting payments from its agency debt and MBS holdings. It also promised to closely monitor economic and financial developments and stands prepared to increase or decrease its MBS purchases. But Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke later indicated...[Includes two data charts]

The new non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security from JPMorgan Chase has been described as both encouraging and puzzling by non-agency participants. The $442.54 million non-agency MBS shows that Chase thinks the non-agency securities market – largely the domain of nonbanks since 2010 – is strong enough for the bank to issue its second jumbo security this year. Non-agency MBS participants have welcomed the competition, noting that activity from a big bank such as Chase could prompt greater ...