Clayton Holdings was rated as a deal agent for non-agency mortgage-backed securities last week. The rating by Morningstar Credit Ratings was the first formal assessment of a deal agent, a role aimed at improving protections for investors in new non-agency MBS. Morningstar also assessed Clayton as a representation-and-warranty reviewer, assigning ratings of MOR RV2 for both functions. The firm’s rating scale ranges from RV1 to RV4 and Morningstar said it is the only ...

For the issuance of mortgage-backed securities with non-qualified mortgages to take off, industry analysts suggest that banks need to play a larger role. To this point, nonbanks have been the only issuers of non-QM MBS. Ron D’Vari and Timothy Bernstein, analysts at New Oak, authored an overview of non-QM MBS issued in the latest issue of The Journal of Structured Finance, which was published this month. The analysts said real estate investment trusts and hedge funds ...

A group of investors pushed back against suggestions that so-called private capital won’t return to the market for new non-agency mortgage-backed securities. The Association of Mortgage Investors took exception to recent comments by Timothy Mayopoulos, president and CEO of Fannie Mae. He predicted that the non-agency MBS market won’t come back due to significant losses suffered during the financial crisis. However, the AMI said the government-sponsored enterprises are ...

Real estate investment trusts that specialize in the residential MBS market held $232.44 billion of agency and non-agency MBS at the end of March, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. The MBS holdings of 16 top mortgage REITs were down 0.3 percent from the fourth quarter and off 11.9 percent from March 2015. However, several REITs boosted their positions during early 2016 and the industry is slated to see a major merger of two firms ... [Includes one data chart]

Draft standards proposed by the Structured Finance Industry Group to address TRID mortgage disclosure issues adequately address the risks posed to non-agency MBS, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The rating service published a detailed analysis of SFIG’s draft proposal this week. On March 18, SFIG proposed a draft standardized approach to the scope of review for exceptions to the combined Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ...

The track record of U.S. re-performing loan MBS transactions rated by Fitch Ratings is pretty much what the ratings service expected, and somewhat better than other deals that were not rated, analysts at Fitch said in a new report. “While still very early, the rated transactions issued since 2014 have performed within initial expectations, reflecting positive selection of the borrowers included in the mortgage pools, extensive up-front diligence and supportive transaction structures,” ...

Industry participants are gearing up for non-agency MBS backed by non-qualified mortgages, but don’t expect a flood of volume anytime soon. Four non-agency MBS backed by new nonprime mortgages were issued in 2015, the largest of which was a $150.35 million deal from Angel Oak Capital Advisors. None of the deals were subject to risk-retention requirements that took effect at the end of 2015 and none were rated. A rating on a non-QM MBS could improve...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac trimmed their retained mortgage investment portfolios in the first quarter of 2016 by a combined 2.8 percent. The Federal Housing Finance Agency directed the government-sponsored enterprises to wind down their portfolios by 15 percent each year until they reach $250 billion by 2018. At the end of the first quarter, Fannie’s mortgage-related investment portfolio dropped to $332.6 billion, a 3.6 percent decline from December 2015. The biggest drop was in the GSE’s non-agency MBS holdings, which fell 21.3 percent in the first quarter to just $13.3 billion, roughly one tenth the amount held back in the heyday of the subprime and Alt A MBS markets. Fannie plans...[Includes one data table]

Among the government-sponsored enterprises’ holdings of nonprime mortgages, non-agency mortgage-backed securities are declining much more quickly than purchased/guaranteed mortgages, according to an analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The combined nonprime MBS holdings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined by 9.6 percent during the first quarter of 2016 compared with the end of 2015. The GSEs’ combined purchased/guaranteed holdings of subprime mortgages and Alt A mortgages declined by 4.1 percent in that time. Similar trends are evident on a yearly basis. MBS account...

Although several high-profile, publicly traded nonbank servicers are having a tough time turning a profit, non-depository institutions continued to build market share in mortgage servicing during the first quarter of 2016, a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking reveals. On the whole, mortgage servicing is somewhat stagnant. The top 50 servicers as of the end of March managed a combined portfolio of $7.266 trillion, down very slightly from the previous quarter. Servicing tied to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities managed a humble 0.2 percent gain in the first quarter, and the non-agency MBS market is still in the doldrums. It remains...[Includes two data tables]