Lenders are accounting for an increasing share of home purchase financing as investors decrease their largely cash buying. Purchases by first-time homebuyers are rising, helped by FHA financing. “First-time homebuyers rarely buy homes with cash and with their increasing participation in the housing market, we expectedly see the proportion of cash-financed transactions falling,” said Tom Popik, research director of Campbell Surveys. The non-cash share of financing for home purchases increased...

Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions was hoping to make a big splash this year by being the first lender to securitize newly originated nonprime mortgages since the housing bust. It now appears those plans are on hold. According to officials who said they have been briefed on the situation, the Atlanta-based Angel Oak is now shopping around a roughly $100 million package of nonprime loans, many of which were originated over the past year. One investor said...

While issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities is the strongest it’s been in the aftermath of the financial crisis, industry analysts suggest that it will be years before activity in the non-agency MBS market returns to levels anywhere near what was seen before the financial crisis. “The short-term outlook remains dismal,” said Quincy Tang, a managing director and head of U.S. residential MBS at DBRS. The factors that have limited issuance ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs expects to issue a final rule establishing ability-to-repay (ATR) standards and defining a “qualified mortgage” in October, according to the agency’s regulatory agenda for the second half of 2015. Proposed in May 2014, the rule would implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, which, among other things, would require the VA to define the types of loans that are QMs under the new ATR provisions of the Truth in Lending Act. VA loans that are designated as QM would have either safe-harbor protections or the presumption that the borrower is able to repay the mortgage loan, in accordance with the new ATR provisions. The final rule would not change VA’s regulations or policies regarding mortgage originations, except when lenders want to originate QMs, the VA said. A VA spokesman clarified that action dates on any particular rulemaking are not ...

Americans were too busy refinancing and shoveling snow to get new home-equity loans during the first quarter of 2015, a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals. Mortgage lenders did an estimated $19.5 billion of home-equity lending during the first three months of 2015, based on new commitments for home-equity lines of credit – by far the most active part of the HEL market – plus originations of closed-end seconds. That was down 7.1 percent from the fourth quarter of last year. Despite the slowdown in the first quarter, home-equity production was...[Includes three data tables]

After being indicted for loan fraud in 2012, Abacus Federal Savings Bank was acquitted of grand larceny and conspiracy charges last week that stemmed from a case brought by the New York District Attorney’s office that involved Fannie Mae. The small Manhattan-based bank, which primarily serves Chinese-Americans in the New York region, was accused of mortgage fraud and falsifying documents and then selling those faulty mortgages to Fannie from 2005 to 2010. Following a four-month trial and nine days of deliberations, a New York jury acquitted...

June 15 marks a new era for issuers and underwriters of MBS and ABS as a new rule from the Securities and Exchange Commission takes effect. For rated securities, even private placements, public disclosure of results from third-party due diligence reviews will be required before a deal is priced. Industry analysts suggest that the rule will prompt a number of changes in the market. “Many in-scope third-party due diligence services will have to be completed...

With interest rates rising again, the future looks somewhat cloudy for real estate investment trusts that invest in MBS, a situation that investors have grown accustomed to the past few years. According to figures compiled by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, the 28 mortgage investing REITs tracked by the firm had a combined market capitalization rate of $47.8 billion at the end of May, a slight drop from a year ago when the tally was $49.0 billion. Then again, not all of the 28 are...

Over the past year speculators have placed some heavy bets against certain publicly traded mortgage companies by shorting their stocks, a “trade” that could be petering out as investors take their money off the table. According to investors and analysts who track companies such as Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial and Walter Investment Management, the share price of all three has fallen so dramatically that the days of easy profits are over. Ocwen, for example, presently trades...[Includes one data table]

The pending TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule from the CFPB is going to raise the risk of losses for investors in U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service. Currently, as Moody’s points out, RMBS trusts are liable for lender errors in calculating the finance charge, the annual percentage rate (APR) and certain other disclosures required by the Truth in Lending Act. However, they are not liable for errors on itemized settlement charges and other disclosures required by the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Further, under the current regime, TILA and RESPA each require lenders to deliver both an initial and a final disclosure to consumers. “Whether an assignee can be liable for lender errors ...