Wall Street raised no objections to a Ginnie Mae proposal to consolidate its two mortgage-backed securities programs, indicating the move would be good for securitization and result in other positives. However, there appeared to be no consensus among players on how to get there. Representatives of Ginnie Mae and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association met early this month to discuss the agency’s proposal. Analysts agreed it is far too early in the game to discern a clear path towards a single Ginnie Mae MBS program and that implementation is likely years away. Nevertheless, there were ...

Freddie Mac this week issued $1.04 billion of mortgage-backed securities backed by modified loans.The notes are being pooled into new Freddie Mac “Fixed-Rate Modified Participation Certificates” with new "MA-MD" prefixes. The GSE bought the majority of these loans out of participation certificates when they were at least 120 days past due. A Freddie official said that it will not sell the new bonds in the open market and instead will hold them on balance sheet.

Although Redwood Trust’s soup-to-nuts approach to representations and warranties has dominated the fledgling recovery in jumbo mortgage-backed securities issuance, some experts think a shorter term alternative may gain popularity among issuers. It’s important for investors and rating services to anticipate putbacks in jumbo MBS, Peter Sack, a managing director at Credit Suisse, said during a panel session at the recent secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association ...

Redwood Trust has recently put an increased emphasis on acquiring purchase mortgages. The loans have higher loan-to-value ratios than refinances included in Redwood’s non-agency mortgage-backed security issuance, a potential concern according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency. Redwood said it acquired $955 million in purchase mortgages from its correspondent lenders in the first quarter of 2013, up from $550 million the previous quarter. The purchase-mortgage share of Redwood’s acquisitions is also increasing ...

While originations included in non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities in recent years have been of high-quality, significant differences exist among originators, according to a new analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The average credit score on mortgages included in Redwood Trust’s non-agency jumbo MBS from 2011 through the first quarter of this year was 771.2, largely driven by First Republic Bank, which accounted for 47.0 percent of originations securitized by Redwood ... [Includes two data charts]

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced plans to consolidate multifamily hubs nationwide and close a number of its smaller field offices. The plan would result in an estimated $61.9 million in annual costs savings for HUD after completion and affect approximately 900 of the department’s 9,300 employees. No employee will be laid off as a result of the restructuring, according to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. Donovan said the changes are part of a broader, long-term effort that will allow HUD to continue to deliver high-quality services by adapting modern best practices. The decision to ...

The Financial Stability Oversight Council issued a warning this week regarding the prolonged period of low interest rates, singling out real estate investment trusts that invest in agency mortgage-backed securities. “Agency REITs, a sector that how grown considerably in recent years, are highly exposed to a rise in interest rates,” said Trent Reasons, a senior policy advisor at the Treasury Department. An analysis of 16 REITs by Inside MBS & ABS, an affiliated publication, determined...

Ginnie Mae is seeking comment from Wall Street dealers on whether the agency should continue maintaining two separate MBS programs, or consolidate them and create a third Ginnie Mae security. The agency has reportedly sent questionnaires to dealers seeking their opinion on a number of options, including combining the lower volume Ginnie Mae I MBS program with the far busier Ginnie Mae II program and its likely impact on liquidity, issuance and market share. A Bloomberg report said...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is moving forward with its search to find a CEO to run the new common mortgage securitization platform that will one day be shared by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and, potentially, other issuers. But it’s anybody’s guess how much the regulator is willing to pay to get a top-flight candidate, according to industry observers. At least two individuals recently were approached about the job, according to these observers. Funding for the project will presumably come...

Issuers of non-agency MBS won two key court battles against federal agencies because the regulators’ suits to recover losses suffered by failed institutions came too late. Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California rejected all claims the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. brought against Countrywide Financial related to 10 MBS certificates sold to the failed Colonial Bank. “All of the FDIC’s claims are time-barred,” the court said. In FDIC v. Countrywide, the court said...