One servicing advisor raised an interesting scenario Tuesday: Maybe Bill Erbey will swoop in and buy all of Ocwen’s shares and take the whole thing private.
The strong growth in issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities seen since 2010 stumbled in 2014, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Some $9.79 billion in jumbo MBS were issued last year, down 25.4 percent from activity in 2013. Issuance has been constrained by bank portfolio demand for jumbo mortgages. The spike in interest rates in 2013 led to nine months of very low issuance. Rates have since fallen and a number of new jumbo MBS issuers have entered the market, but quarterly volume has struggled to reach the levels seen in early 2013. Those looking for a silver lining could...[Includes one data chart]
Jumbo lenders continue to loosen underwriting requirements in an effort to compete for volume. Some lenders are even offering jumbos with loan-to-value ratios as high as 95 percent, while three years ago a 70 percent LTV ratio was the norm. “We’ve seen a fairly rapid loosening of standards on jumbo loans,” said Michael Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association, during an event hosted this week by the Urban Institute. “They’re still tight, but now you can get a 5 percent down jumbo loan. And minimum credit scores have been coming down.” The MBA’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index has shown...