Redwood Trust this week reduced the amount of jumbo-mortgage volume the real estate investment trust expects to acquire this year, citing competition for originations, among other issues. At the beginning of the year, officials at Redwood projected that the REIT would purchase $7.0 billion in jumbos. Through the end of July, Redwood had purchased $3.0 billion in jumbos. Officials at Redwood said the REIT is on track to purchase $5.5 billion to $7.0 billion in jumbos ...

Two of the most prolific issuers of jumbo mortgage-backed securities this year have offered investors some variety with their latest deals. JPMorgan Chase stocked its deal with older loans while Two Harbors Investment has focused on fresh originations. Last week, Chase issued JPMorgan Mortgage Trust 2015-5. The $489.64 million deal was backed by loans with a weighted average loan age of 28.9 months, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency. The MBS ...

Nearly two years after facing difficulty selling a jumbo mortgage-backed security, Shellpoint Partners is preparing to issue a new deal. The $269.29 million Shellpoint Co-Originator Trust 2015-1 is set to receive AAA ratings with credit enhancement of 8.30 percent on the senior tranche, according to a presale report from DBRS. The deal includes originations from Shellpoint’s New Penn Financial along with contributions from 30 other lenders. Shellpoint issued its first jumbo MBS ...

Ocwen Financial looks to be close to completing its downsizing through servicing sales that will leave its non-agency mortgage portfolio mostly intact. The nonbank is also working toward being able to acquire servicing again and has plans to boost originations. Ocwen handled servicing on $154.79 billion in non-agency mortgages as of the end of the second quarter of 2015, including subservicing. The unpaid principal balance of non-agency mortgages ...

The largest servicers participating in the non-agency portion of the Home Affordable Modification Program will be required to offer streamlined HAMP mods beginning in 2016, according to a directive from the Treasury Department. The Streamline HAMP offering will allow borrowers to qualify for mods without full completion of a HAMP application, without income verification and without the front-end debt-to-income ratio limit of 31 percent for typical HAMP mods ...

Flagstar Bancorp held a portfolio of $1.56 billion in interest-only mortgages at the end of 2011, with payments for many of the borrowers set to double in the coming years. A year ago, officials at the bank were touting its efforts to work with borrowers to limit the payment shock that kicks in when IOs reset and they have to start repaying principal. While those efforts continue, Flagstar has also sold more than half of its IO holdings, seeing strong demand from ...

Fitch Ratings updated its criteria for estimating losses on mortgages in non-agency mortgage-backed securities this week. The main change for jumbo MBS involves the treatment of retail originations by lenders that have not been reviewed by Fitch. Previously, retail originations from such lenders would not receive positive consideration in the calculation for the probability of default. The rating service will now apply the retail benefit to ... [Includes three briefs]

Over the winter, the VA program had quietly become a much more significant factor in the government-insured market...

Redwood executives said competition has cut into margins, prompting the reduction in its forecast.

The fastest-growing sectors of the mortgage market during the second quarter of 2015 were jumbo loans and government-insured production, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. The conventional-conforming segment remains the biggest piece of the mortgage market, accounting for 52.8 percent of originations during the second quarter. Back in early 2013, when refinance activity accounted for three of every four new home loans, the conventional-conforming share was 68.1 percent. Lenders generated...[Includes two data charts]