Investors have a lot more to worry about these days than the collateral damage stemming from problems in Greece and China and a bumpy U.S. stock market. Ratings analysts indicate some new energy-related risks – most notably earthquakes near “fracking” sites and a plunge in the price of oil – have emerged as potentially significant challenges to investors in real estate and to mortgage lenders. Analysts at Standard & Poor’s said in a recent client note that earthquakes in proximity to fracking sites introduce a unique risk factor into the investment equation for those with a stake in real estate located in affected regions. “In particular, determining whether or not earthquake coverage is...

Issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities has slowed somewhat this summer, with a lack of consensus from industry participants on whether it’s worth participating in the market. Barclays Capital, which helps fund jumbo MBS activity, said the deals offer about 50 basis points of option-adjusted spread compared with agency MBS. Analysts at Barclays said newly-issued jumbo MBS are attractive for investors less concerned about liquidity. Officials at Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp ...

The monitor of a $2.0 billion settlement involving Ocwen Financial revealed last week that the nonbank was found to have failed another metric under the settlement. However, the monitor noted that Ocwen has worked to address many of the issues that have dogged the company over the past year. The monitor re-tested Ocwen on a number of metrics under the settlement due to concerns that were raised about the integrity of the servicer’s internal review group ...

Real estate investment trusts that focus on the MBS market saw the value of their holdings slump again during the volatile second quarter of 2015. Top mortgage REITs reported a fair market value of $249.10 billion for their single-family MBS holdings as of the end of June. That was down 5.6 percent from the previous quarter, and it was the group’s lowest MBS portfolio valuation since the fourth quarter of 2011. The decline came...[Includes one data table]

The application of capital requirements to MBS and other structured finance products in the coming years will likely trump any typical collateral analysis investors currently consider, according to analysts at Standard & Poor’s. In a report published late last week, the analysts said global capital requirements have the potential to become impediments to providing financing via securitized products. “Of particular investor focus recently are...

The trajectory of delinquencies for U.S. timeshare ABS is continuing its downward trend, and issuance is expected to be near or perhaps even exceed last year’s level, with solid prospects for continued stable growth throughout the rest of the year, according to a consensus of industry analysts. U.S. timeshare ABS delinquencies fell again in the second quarter of 2015 to their lowest level in eight years, the latest index results from Fitch Ratings show. Total delinquencies for the second quarter were 2.66 percent, down from 2.79 percent in the first quarter and 2.92 percent a year ago. The ratings service has seen...

loanDepot, LLC, made a big splash in the market this week, becoming the first nonbank lender to begin making ‘A’ paper second liens since the housing bust. The Irvine, CA-based lender fully expects it may soon have competition, but believes by being the first in, it will have a leg up on whichever players enter the fold. However, a quick call to a handful of nonbanks turned up...

Piggyback mortgage financing structures appear to be creeping back into the market, a trend that some observers say could destabilize the industry. Before the financial crisis, many borrowers combined a first-lien mortgage for 80 percent of home value with a second lien of 10 percent or more in order to avoid paying private mortgage insurance. While many first-lien mortgages are still originated with a simultaneous second in recent years, the combined loan-to-value ratio of the two has been capped at 80 percent or less. “From what we’ve seen from lenders who are interested in expanding their customer base, there appears...

More issuers are stepping up to the plate by creating securities collateralized by nonperforming residential loans, but so far the action has mostly taken place in the private-placement market. “There have been a bunch of securitizations of NPLs lately,” one trader told Inside MBS & ABS, “but it’s all been Reg. 144 filings,” a reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission rule that allows for the public resale of restricted collateral if a number of conditions are met ...

Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs this week announced it has set aside $1.45 billion for legal expenses for the second quarter of 2015, bringing its total anticipated legal costs so far to $5.9 billion to settle Department of Justice claims stemming from the sale of vintage non-agency MBS. A good chunk of that figure – $270 million – is expected to be tapped to resolve residential MBS litigation brought by pension funds led by NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund of Illinois ...