An increase in the purchase-mortgage share in new jumbo mortgage-backed securities will benefit investors in the deals, according to Moody's Investors Service. However, the loans are more difficult for lenders to originate than refinance mortgages, and it remains to be seen if investor demand will be high enough to prompt issuance of jumbo MBS. The share of refis in jumbo MBS declined as interest rates rose in 2013. Moody's said the trend is expected to continue this year and noted that ...

Titan Capital Solutions announced this week that it has 65 correspondent jumbo lending clients. The firm is a subsidiary of Titan Lenders and started accepting applications from jumbo correspondents in the first quarter of 2013. TCS said it offers mortgages with balances of up to $1.0 million and allows credit scores as low as 690 and loan-to-value ratios as high as 80 percent. Morgan Stanley has reached an agreement in principle with the Securities and Exchange Commission ... [Includes seven briefs]

The capital markets risk-sharing transactions completed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the past year are seen by some as a model for reform of the government-sponsored enterprises. However, the GSEs are taking on significantly more risk in the transactions than the non-agency first-loss requirements contemplated in legislation pending in Congress. Analysts at Barclays Capital project that after Congress approves mortgage-finance reform legislation, it would take at least 10 years to transition smoothly to a new system. Bills in Congress contemplate a five-year transition timeline, but raising enough private capital to fund the new system in that timeframe could be difficult. Industry analysts predict...

Issuance of agency and non-agency commercial MBS increased 13.5 percent in 2013, according to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS, although production dropped sharply in the fourth quarter. Industry participants expect that volume will continue to grow as investor demand for commercial MBS remains strong despite some loosening of underwriting standards. Ken Cheng, a managing director at Morningstar Credit Ratings, said...[Includes one data chart]

Issuers of non-agency MBS and agency mortgage sellers have addressed most of the legacy representation and warranty issues that have bedeviled the market for the past few years, according to industry analysts. However, repurchase and buyback issues haven’t been completely resolved as investors and regulators make last grasps at recoveries. Analysts at Compass Point Analytics & Trading estimated that the total losses incurred for rep-and-warrant claims from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the FHA and non-agency MBS investors by publicly traded U.S. originators still in existence will total $89.0 billion. The analysts said lenders have charged off or reserved $88.0 billion for such losses. Compass Point said...

Ocwen Financial announced late last week that its planned purchase of mortgage servicing rights on a $39.2 billion portfolio of mortgages from Wells Fargo is on “indefinite hold” due to a request and scrutiny by the New York Department of Financial Services. Industry participants suggest that delays in servicing transfers due to third parties are common and the deal with Ocwen, which largely consists of mortgages in non-agency MBS, will be completed. “Ocwen will continue to work closely with the NYDFS to resolve its concerns about Ocwen’s servicing portfolio growth,” the servicer said. The NYDFS raised concerns that Ocwen doesn’t have enough capacity to handle the significant portfolio growth experienced by the servicer in recent years. Certain nonbank servicers are getting...

The jumbo mortgage-backed security market was dormant for over two months, but within the past 14 days, Credit Suisse issued a $287.42 million deal and JPMorgan Chase started shopping a $356.39 million issuance. That’s not to say the jumbo MBS market is back to full strength. The two deals have some unique characteristics, and banks still maintain their dominance over nonbank aggregators of jumbos. Officials at American Capital Mortgage Investment said jumbo MBS issuance has plenty of potential ...

Certain nonbank servicers are getting “too big, too fast,” Ben Lawsky, superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, said in a speech this week. The remarks came after the NYDFS halted the transfer of mortgage servicing rights with an unpaid principal balance from Wells Fargo to Ocwen Financial. Lawsky said state regulators and servicers need to make sure that transfers of servicing to nonbanks don’t put borrowers at risk. He raised particular concerns about staffing levels at nonbanks, with ...

Ocwen Financial announced last week that its purchase of mortgage servicing rights from Wells Fargo is on “indefinite hold” due to a request from the New York Department of Financial Services. While some have suggested that the deal for servicing on mortgages with an unpaid principal balance of $39.2 billion won’t be completed, officials at nonbanks note that delays on servicing transfers due to third parties are common. In recent years, the time required to fulfill contractual conditions from initial closing ...

Investors hoping to cash in on some of the huge returns realized by speculators in legacy nonprime MBS likely have missed the boat. Moreover, principal reductions on the remaining underlying loans are now deemed a credit negative. Trading in on vintage non-agency securities has been light of late. According to a recent report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the rally in such securities “has reached the ninth inning.” BAML notes...