Ellington Financial plans to increase non-agency issuance. The real estate investment trust last month issued its first non-QM MBS in over a year.

Rocket’s originations and secondary market sales of home equity loans are flourishing without the GSEs. It’s also not yet clear how large of a role the GSEs would have in the market for closed-end second liens.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman highlighted issues in the proposed rule that impact MBS and ABS.

loanDepot is preparing to issue a non-agency MBS stocked with scratch-and-dent mortgages.

Securitization of home equity loans increased again in the first quarter, driven by closed-end second liens. Issuance is growing exponentially, helped by nonbanks and investor demand. (Includes two data tables.)

Banks are reducing their appetite for mortgages, providing opportunities for nonbanks to boost their investment in the mortgage market. Redwood Trust looks to be leading the way in terms of bank partnerships.

The Structured Finance Association, which is developing a compliance tool to facilitate uniformity in the non-agency MBS market on QM standards, has run into a vexing issue regarding the definition of a QM.

The diversification inherent in MBS may be the ideal tool to combat climate risk in housing finance.

Regulators are pushing higher capital requirements on banks and looking favorably at credit-risk transfer transactions, helping to increase CRT issuance. Investor demand for bank CRT is also outstripping supply.

New prohibitions against conflicts of interest in the MBS and ABS market will take effect in June 2025. But SEC officials are urging industry participants to raise compliance concerns, if any, as soon as possible.