The jumbo MBS market has been extremely weak this year, but a change may be afoot.

S&P rated seven of the 11 non-agency MBS issued in the first three months of 2014, or 78 percent based on dollar volume, according to Inside MBS & ABS.

In a few months, mortgage insurance giant Radian Group will close on its $305 million cash purchase of Clayton Holdings, ending the “independent” status of one of the nation’s largest MBS due-diligence firms. Almost all the larger due-diligence companies have been gobbled up by larger players over the past 18 months. Most of the acquirers have other interests in the residential finance industry and are betting on the eventual return of the non-agency MBS market. That could be...

Five Oaks will allow for cash-out refis for loans with balances of up to $1 million. The maximum allowable loan-to-value ratio is 65 percent, but the company may eventually go to 70 percent.

In trading, Walter was down almost 5 percent on the day. The stock fell to just under $28. Its 52-week low is $24, its high $45.12.

One Stonegate Mortgage watcher we know called the company an “absolute no-brainer short,” noting that when the lender went public “it was overvalued."

The disclosure regime envisioned by the SEC prompts even greater privacy concerns than the initial proposal, according to a number of non-agency MBS issuers.

In a report released Wednesday morning, the servicing settlement monitor said Green Tree failed eight metrics tested in the second half of 2013.

Brett Nicholas, president of Redwood Trust, said the real estate investment trust plans to issue its next jumbo MBS around June.

Residential originators are getting more confident about lending outside the parameters of the qualified mortgage rule.