The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs have taken additional steps to provide relief to homeowners in disaster areas hit by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. This week, the FHA issued policy waivers in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico and fire-stricken counties in California, allowing damage inspections to be completed beginning Oct. 24. FHA currently requires servicers to perform a damage inspection following the close of an “incident period” as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. An incident period is the period For mortgages in disaster areas that have not closed or are pending endorsement, lenders must follow FHA’s guidelines on inspection and repair escrow requirements for loans in such areas. FHA believes that situations in certain jurisdictions in Puerto Rico and California have stabilized and further damage to ...

The securities industry is backing Ginnie Mae’s stepped-up efforts to curb loan churning and rapid refinancing of VA loans and expressed its concern over how such improper lending practices might affect borrowers and MBS investors. In a letter this week to Michael Bright, Ginnie’s chief operating officer and acting president, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association lauded the agency’s investigation of aggressive refinancing of VA loans. The practice has ...

The Structured Finance Industry Group agrees with many of the proposals made by the Treasury Department in its recent report on regulatory reform for financial markets but seeks more clarity about risk retention requirements. Published earlier this month, the Treasury report said that the requirement that sponsors retain a residual interest in securitizations adds unnecessary cost to securitization as a funding source. In turn, it inhibits the prudent expansion of credit through securitized products ...

Ginnie Mae issuers rode a wave of purchase-mortgage lending to deliver $120.46 billion of forward mortgages during the third quarter of 2017, the highest three-month volume for the year, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside FHA/VA Lending. Third-quarter volume was up 9.6 percent from the April-June cycle. The data excluded FHA reverse mortgages and loan amounts are truncated in Ginnie’s mortgage-backed securities disclosures. Without those limitations, total Ginnie MBS issuance rose 9.5 percent to $123.37 billion in the third quarter. Purchase mortgages were the engine behind the growth. Ginnie issuers securitized $85.35 billion of purchase loans in the third quarter, falling just short of the record $85.41 billion set in the third quarter of last year. Although most Ginnie purchase loans (58.7 percent) were FHA loans, the biggest increase was in such loans guaranteed by the ... [Charts]

The average daily trading volume in agency MBS increased to $223.2 billion in September, the second highest reading of the year, according to figures compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Compared to August, trading volume was up about 12.1 percent, but flat compared to the same month a year ago. The increase in activity coincided with declining bond prices and rising interest rates. As the weekend approached, the yield on the benchmark ...

Requirements for asset-level disclosures for certain ABS fell off of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s most recent regulatory agenda but the issue remains on the regulator’s radar, according to industry participants. Asset-level disclosure requirements for MBS and ABS have been a concern since 2010 when the SEC proposed revisions to Regulation AB. Some of the so-called Reg AB2 revisions were ultimately finalized in 2014, establishing disclosure requirements for ...

Investor demand for non-agency MBS backed by re-performing loans has prompted an increase in issuance, with a new emphasis on deals that have credit ratings. Chimera Investment issued its first rated RPL transaction this week and MetLife Investment Management is preparing to enter the market as an issuer. “Rated RPL MBS has fundamentally changed the market,” Scott Waterstredt, a managing director at MetLife, said at the recent ABS East conference. He noted that ...

Vacancy rates are up in the single-family rental space, mostly due to seasonal factors, according to a new report from Morningstar Credit Ratings. Meanwhile, the toll from Hurricane Irma is still being calculated. “The average vacancy rate among single-family rental securitizations climbed to 5.7 percent in August, as property managers dealt with increased lease expirations, typical of the summer months,” analysts from Morningstar said. This was the fifth consecutive monthly increase. They cited two ...

The election of President Trump and Republican control of Congress initially prompted optimism among MBS and ABS issuers for significant easing of regulatory standards. But with comprehensive legislation from Congress looking unlikely, the focus has shifted to federal agencies, according to speakers at the recent ABS East conference sponsored by Information Management Network. “Expectations have had to be reset post-election,” said Ryan Schoen, a senior financial services analyst at Washington Analysis, a research firm. He said he doesn’t expect much regulatory reform from Capitol Hill. While the House passed H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act, this year, the Senate is taking a more measured approach. “The Senate doesn’t seem...

Servicers of loans in MBS and ABS responded to recent hurricanes by aiming to limit investors’ losses while also showing consideration to borrowers. Practices vary across asset types, particularly in the MBS market. A number of issuers and servicers at the ABS East conference produced by Information Management Network last week in Miami Beach said they suspend collection-related calls to delinquent borrowers in the days immediately following a hurricane. Servicers also stressed that it’s important to hear from borrowers to better understand whether loss mitigation might be necessary. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and federal government entities involved in the mortgage market issued...