Analysts expect issuance of new production non-agency MBS to increase in 2013 from this year’s level but remain well below historical non-boom standards. Investor demand for new non-agency MBS has increased recently and a number of issuers are looking to enter the market, but the non-agency sector also faces significant hurdles. Reform of the government-sponsored enterprises and pending risk-retention rules need to be resolved before non-agency MBS production will increase significantly, according to industry analysts. Through the beginning of December, $13.01 billion in non-agency MBS had been issued...

City councils on each end of the U.S. have responded to the foreclosure crisis by demonstrating an interest in controversial proposals to use eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages, refinance them into FHA loans at fair market value, and then sell them off to other investors. The Salinas (CA) City Council has gone the furthest of the two jurisdictions, choosing Mortgage Resolution Partners earlier this month to develop such a program for the benefit of the homeowners in its jurisdiction. At its Oct. 16, 2012, meeting, the council’s housing subcommittee directed staff to develop and circulate a request for proposals to determine the magnitude of the local residential foreclosure crisis and possible solutions. On Nov. 1, 2012, the RFP was circulated...

Investors in non-agency MBS have numerous concerns about a loan modification program proposed by the Obama administration, according to Tom Deutsch, executive director of the American Securitization Forum. The so-called Market Rate Modification program would target borrowers with negative equity on a mortgage in a non-agency MBS. “For the many significantly underwater borrowers that would not default on their mortgage loans, the MRM proposal would ultimately represent a transfer of wealth from the pension fund and 401(k) investors who lent the mortgage principal through residential MBS to borrowers that have not demonstrated any material life changes that would impair their ability to make their monthly mortgage payments,” Deutsch said in a letter this week to the Treasury Department. He noted...

Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings accounted for a combined 96 percent of all credit ratings across all five rating categories, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s annual report on nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSROs). There were NRSROs registered with the SEC during the year ending in the second quarter of 2012. They were A.M. Best Co.; DBRS, Inc.; Egan-Jones Ratings Co. (EJR); Fitch; Japan Credit Rating Agency; Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA); Moody’s; Morningstar Credit Ratings; and S&P. They provided ratings in five credit rating categories: asset-backed securities (including mortgages); corporate issuers; financial institutions; government securities; and insurance companies. The report showed...

Look for increased volume of new non-agency mortgage-backed securities issuance – and more companies issuing these deals – in 2013, industry analysts say. Underwriting standards could loosen somewhat as investor demand strengthens. Through the beginning of December, $3.46 billion in non-agency jumbo MBS was issued in 2012, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance MBS Database. Redwood Trust accounted for 56.7 percent of that volume, with an affiliate of Credit Suisse Group accounting for the rest ...

Credit Suisse’s jumbo conduit is increasing its acquisitions and looking to issue more non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities, according to Luke Scolastico, a vice president at Credit Suisse. “We’re buying loans every day,” he said last week at a panel discussion hosted by the American Securitization Forum. “More last month than the month before, and more that month than the month before.” Credit Suisse has issued $1.50 billion in non-agency MBS so far in 2012. While the first deals ...

The guaranty fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are close to hitting a tipping point where non-agency mortgage-backed security issuance will be the more economic execution for new originations, according to some non-agency participants. “If the non-agency pricing is improving and the GSE pricing is worsening, at some point you’re going to hit a tipping point,” Luke Scolastico, a vice president at Credit Suisse, said last week at a panel discussion hosted by the American Securitization Forum ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, under directions from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, are close to issuing risk-sharing transactions, according to market participants. The securities will be structured to allow non-agency investors to take subordinate risk on government-sponsored enterprise mortgage-backed securities and will likely help set GSE guaranty fees going forward. Martin Hughes, CEO of Redwood Trust, said his company is currently under a non-disclosure agreement regarding risk-sharing ...

Investors in non-agency mortgage-backed securities are pushing back against a loan modification program proposed by the Obama administration that would target underwater loans backing their investments. “Quite simply, investors have already been significantly harmed by the poor performance of many of the mortgage loans in non-agency MBS, and the Market Rate Modification proposal would only increase the severity of losses suffered by institutional investors,” Tom Deutsch ...

Damage from Hurricane Sandy will have a negligible impact on mortgages in outstanding non-agency mortgage-backed securities, according to a new analysis by Opera Solutions. The servicing analytics provider said 45 non-agency MBS deals with $19.6 billion in outstanding balance have mortgages with exposure to significant damage from the storm and the likely affected balance is $6.0 billion. “Based on a detailed analysis of each portion of affected ZIP codes, the ultimate exposure is much lower ... [Includes four briefs]