Activity in the non-agency MBS market involving nonperforming loans and re-performing loans is expected to continue to flourish through at least the end of this year, according to industry analysts. Vintage mortgages in scratch-and-dent deals accounted for 42.0 percent of the non-agency MBS issued in the first half of 2015, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance MBS Database. The $15.60 billion in scratch-and-dent volume included a mix of nonperforming loans and re-performing loans. Issuance of non-agency MBS backed by NPLs and RPLs through two quarters this year equaled...

New production of non-agency MBS declined sharply from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2015, although year-to-date issuance suggests that 2015 could top last year’s total output. Just $13.92 billion of non-agency MBS were issued during the second quarter, a 40.0 percent tumble from the first three months of the year. The first quarter of 2015 was the biggest quarter in non-agency MBS issuance since the second quarter of 2009. The biggest components of the market have been...[Includes three data tables]

A number of trade groups that represent firms involved in the securitization market are pushing for an appeal to be heard in a case that has significant implications for the MBS and ABS markets. A ruling in May by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Madden v. Midland Funding determined that nonbanks shouldn’t receive the federal preemption of state law that has been allotted to banks under the National Bank Act. “The outcome of the case would significantly impair...

Bond investing giant Pacific Investment Management Co., commonly known as PIMCO, is getting more serious about buying a mortgage franchise and has zeroed in on a mid-sized nonbank, according to industry officials who claim to have knowledge of the talks. But it’s not mortgage banking, per se, that PIMCO is ultimately interested in – it’s the MBS market. “PIMCO has been in the MBS game for many years, so I would think this is possible,” said industry consultant Paul Hindman. Hindman has...

Issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities leveled off in the second quarter of 2015 after posting strong gains in the previous three quarters, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Some $3.11 billion in jumbo MBS was issued in the second quarter, down 32.5 percent from the first three months of the year. After unexpected fluctuations in interest rates in mid-2013, jumbo MBS issuance averaged ... [Includes one data chart]

Two rating services in the past month have completed reviews of jumbo mortgage-backed securities issued in 2010 and later. The reviews led to numerous rating confirmations, some upgrades and no downgrades, prompting questions about whether criteria for rating jumbo MBS are too stringent. “I’d guess the rating services internally said ‘never again’ for downgrades,” said one participant in the jumbo MBS market. Officials at Fitch Ratings and DBRS ...

For the non-agency market, the impact of anticipated action by the Federal Reserve on short-term interest rates depends on whether interest rates on mortgages also increase, according to industry analysts. Industry participants continue to wait for the Fed to increase the federal funds rate and ponder the impact higher rates will have on originations and performance. “The effect of an interest rate increase on new residential mortgage-backed security transactions will ...

Servicers involved in national settlements are largely in compliance and making progress toward completing their loss-mitigation requirements, according to reports released in the past two weeks. Joseph Smith, the monitor of a settlement involving non-agency mortgage-backed securities that requires JPMorgan Chase to complete $4.0 billion in credited loss mitigation, said that as of the end of 2014, Chase was credited with $3.32 billion in relief ...

Home prices remain below their peak levels and mortgage interest rates are well below where they were prior to the financial crisis. However, mortgage originations since 2008 have been significantly below the levels seen in years prior as tight underwriting standards have limited production. “Home prices are still very affordable by historical standards, despite increases over the last three years,” the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center noted in a recent report. “Even if interest rates rose to 6.00 percent, affordability would be at the long term historical average.” Black Knight Financial Services added...

Neither of the credit-rating industry’s perennial market leaders – Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service – managed to claim a top spot during the first quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking. Fitch Ratings ranked as the top player in rating the bigger non-mortgage ABS market. The company rated 43 ABS issued during the first quarter that represented 64.2 percent of total issuance by dollar amount. The company rated all eight credit-card ABS issued in early 2015, along with most of the student-loan deals. Fitch raised...[Includes two data tables]