While banks and foreign investors have increased their holdings of agency MBS in recent quarters, the Federal Reserve continued to buy over half of net new issuance during the second quarter. (Includes three data charts.)

Auctions of early buyouts from Ginnie MBS continues apace. One way to enter the market: Buy the mortgage servicing rights instead.

The Fed could end its stimulus-related purchases of agency MBS by the middle of 2022; S&P official provides an example of just how conservative rating services can be when assessing non-agency MBS and ABS.

The blueprint would reverse capital requirements set in December, which offered few incentives for the GSEs to complete credit-risk transfer transactions.

Investors in Freddie’s new When-Issued K-Deal have the right to exchange them for K-deal A-M certificates to be issued in the future.

Experts say a modest taper in Fed MBS purchases is unlikely to have a serious impact on bond prices or the housing market.

MISMO and SFA are separately working to update the ASF dataset for non-agency MBS; BNY Mellon is offering new agency MBS service; a relatively rare downgrade for commercial MBS.

Several top REITs hunkered down in the choppy agency MBS market during the second quarter, while others continued pushing into MSRs and the non-agency mortgage sector. (Includes data chart.)

MBS trading has been relatively quiet the past two months and much lower than early in the year. Then again, traders have other things on their minds, namely what might be said Friday regarding central bank tapering.

Are Ginnie Mae servicers still making 500 basis points to 600 bps on early buyouts? So we hear. Also, there’s an angle for smaller players.