Lone Star Funds is preparing to issue a $216.97 million MBS backed by newly originated nonprime mortgages, according to presale reports published this week. The deal will help the market for new nonprime MBS outpace issuance of jumbo MBS, at least momentarily. Last month, Deephaven Mortgage issued a $154.33 million MBS backed by new nonprime mortgages and Angel Oak Capital Advisors issued a $132.65 million MBS, neither of which received credit ratings. Lone Star’s COLT 2016-2 is scheduled to close next week. Two jumbo MBS were issued...

Investor demand for nonprime whole loans is increasing – which is a good thing for primary market originators – but will it create problems for firms that want to issue securities? In some quarters, there’s a concern that if enough investors appear, it will increase whole-loan prices, making securitization less economical and therefore more difficult. “We’re definitely seeing...

The first rated post-crisis non-agency MBS backed by a significant share of nonperforming mortgages paid off recently, offering insights into how the deal performed and how investors fared. The $372.80 million Mortgage Fund IVc Trust 2015-RN1 was issued by Bayview Asset Management in October 2015. It received “A” ratings from Fitch Ratings and Morningstar. Fitch said it capped its rating “due to the idiosyncratic and adverse-selection risks associated with NPL collateral.” At issuance, 34.9 percent of the loans were nonperforming and 78.0 percent had been modified. The rating services said...

The National Credit Union Administration gets another chance to recover MBS losses incurred by a now-defunct federal credit union, while The Royal Bank of Scotland and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance announce a confidential settlement agreement to resolve the latter’s MBS claims. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has vacated a 2015 order by the Central District of California dismissing NCUA’s claims on behalf of failed Western Corporate FCU, which the agency placed in conservatorship in March 2009 and later in liquidation. The agency is acting as liquidating agent for Wescorp against Nomura Home Equity Loan, Inc. The NCUA filed...

A $6.20 billion portfolio backed largely by jumbo mortgages originated in recent years was sold last week, according to Interactive Data. The portfolio appears to have been sold by Premium Point Investments, though the hedge fund wouldn’t confirm that. Premium Point backed WinWater Home Mortgage, which stopped issuing jumbo mortgage-backed securities earlier this year. Impac Mortgage Holdings announced this week an offering of 2.5 million shares ... [Includes two briefs]

VA refinance mortgages accounted for the biggest share of total insured refis during the first six months of 2016, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of agency refi data. On a monthly basis, VA refi totals exceeded refis with FHA and private mortgage insurance, peaking at $9.3 billion (58.1 percent of total VA originations) in April. Over the six-month period, the refi share of VA loans securitized by Ginnie Mae averaged 52.3 percent, compared to 29.6 percent for FHA and 21.0 percent for private MI loans securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In terms of total volume, however, FHA held a commanding lead, $123.0 billion, over private MIs ($102.7 billion) and VA ($84.8 billion). Interestingly, the average interest rate on VA refi loans, 3.6 percent, over the six-month period was lower than FHA’s and private MIs’ note rates of 3.9 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively. There is no clear ... [1 chart]

Ginnie Mae issued $46.5 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities in August, up slightly from July, according to an analysis of Ginnie data. Single-family MBS monthly issuance in August was the highest monthly volume so far this year. Total issuance also was up 12.3 percent from the same month last year., Strong purchase and refinance originations in the second quarter helped push production in the third quarter. Although purchase loans with private mortgage insurance outpaced gains in FHA and VA loans in the second quarter, deliveries to Ginnie so far appear to indicate a strong third quarter. Meanwhile, VA volume has been fueled largely by refinance activity over the past few years and does not appear to be letting up. PennyMac and Freedom Mortgage battled for first place with $4.35 billion and $4.34 billion, respectively, in MBS issuance in August. Despite cutting back on its ... [1 chart]

Issuers delivered $8.1 billion of rural mortgage loans with a U.S. Department of Agriculture guarantee into Ginnie Mae pools during the first six months of 2016, according to an analysis of Ginnie data. Securitized USDA mortgages accounted for 1.3 percent percent of total MBS issued by Ginnie Mae during the period and comprised 2.5 percent of total loans originated during the six-month period. USDA-backed loan deliveries to Ginnie Mae in the second quarter rose 9.8 percent from the previous period. Year-over-year, issuance of MBS backed by rural loans fell 3.8 percent. USDA-backed mortgages require no downpayment. Over the first six months, the average credit score for rural borrowers was 688.1 and the average debt-to-income ratio was 34.9 percent. An estimated 93.2 percent of USDA loans originated during the period were purchase mortgages, 1.0 percent were refinances and the ... [ 2 charts ]

Real estate investment trusts that specialize in residential MBS posted a slight increase in their agency MBS holdings during the second quarter of 2016, along with a drop in non-agency MBS. The 16 publicly traded mortgage REITs tracked by Inside MBS & ABS had a combined residential MBS portfolio of $234.65 billion at the end of June, a gain of 0.9 percent from the previous quarter. However, 11 of the institutions reported declining balances, including the two largest REITs at the top of the ranking. Two Harbors Investment reported...[Includes one data table]

Over the past week, two nonprime MBS deals came to light: a $138.89 million bond issued by Deephaven Residential Mortgage Trust and a $119.38 million security from Angel Oak Real Estate Investment Trust. Both deals were private placements backed by newly originated mortgages and underwritten by Wall Street veterans Credit Suisse and Nomura Securities. Although both were publicized this week, the transactions – which were not rated – closed...