Mortgage real estate investment trusts are expressing optimism about investment opportunities in agency MBS despite tighter spreads on credit assets, according to industry analysts at a recent mortgage finance conference in New York City. Mortgage REITs were positive on investment opportunities and believed that interest rate increases were likely to be moderate in the months ahead, said analysts with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, which hosted the conference. Industry executives, however, noted...

Sharp declines in retail originations of jumbo mortgages at a number of major lenders contributed to a decline in the channel’s share of jumbo originations in the first quarter of 2017, according to a new analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The retail channel accounted for 79.3 percent of the $49.49 billion of jumbo originations reported by a diverse group of top lenders in the first quarter, down from an 82.6 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2016. Actual jumbo retail production reported by the group was...[Includes one data table]

Redwood Trust is set to end a slight lull in its issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities with a new $349.46 million deal. The firm issued one jumbo MBS per month in the first three months of the year while planned Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2017-4 is set to close at the end of this month, according to presale reports by Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Moody’s Investors Service. At a recent investor conference, Marty Hughes, Redwood’s CEO, said...

Deephaven Mortgage LLC soon will issue its second securitization of nonprime mortgages of this year, a $250.1 million deal backed by a variety of loans that fall outside of the legal safe harbor for qualified-mortgage status. Presale reports from S&P Global and Kroll Bond Rating Agency indicate that 45.6 percent of the loans were acquired from Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions, with the rest coming from Deephaven. Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing will service all the loans. The mortgages were originated...

American International Group’s jumbo conduit has purchased a significant volume of mortgages in the past year and has plans to issue non-agency mortgage-backed securities. As of April, AIG Investments had purchased prime jumbo mortgages with an original balance of approximately $4.80 billion, according to Fitch Ratings. AIG launched its residential mortgage lending division in 2013 and has ramped up acquisition activity since then. Fitch recently assessed...

A loan exchange operated by MAXEX looks to be a new source of jumbo mortgages. The exchange was recently assessed by Fitch Ratings and loans sourced from the exchange have been included in jumbo mortgage-backed securities issued by JPMorgan Chase. MAXEX was founded in 2012 but didn’t launch its LoanExchange platform until June 2016. Mortgages with an unpaid principal balance of more than $500.0 million have traded on the platform, according to Fitch. “JPMorgan Chase is...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is accepting comments as part of its assessment of the ability-to-repay rule. The ATR rule took effect in early 2014, setting standards for how lenders should evaluate potential borrowers. The rule also established protections for loans that meet criteria to be deemed a qualified mortgage. One of the more controversial provisions the CFPB included when setting QM standards was...

Lenders planning to originate non-qualified mortgages have many sources to find potential borrowers, according to officials at Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions. AOMS focuses its business on non-QM originations via the correspondent and wholesale channels. Tom Hutchens, a senior vice president of sales and marketing at Angel Oak, has detailed the ways loan officers can find non-QM borrowers in a series of webinars. He suggests...

Ocwen Financial recently filed a lawsuit against Fidelity Information Services, which completed a two-year review of Ocwen as part of an order by the California Department of Business Oversight. Ocwen alleged that FIS submitted false, fraudulent and improper invoices for the review, including invoices from strip clubs and casinos. FIS has disputed the allegations. The Structured Finance Industry Group is...

The biggest was a $698 million bond from New Residential Mortgage Loan Trust backed by performing and re-performing loans bought out of mostly Alt A legacy deals.