A federal appeals court in New York this week will hear arguments from African-American subprime borrowers in Detroit in connection with a proposed class action challenging Morgan Stanley’s mortgage securitization practices during the subprime mortgage boom. The American Civil Liberties Union and its partners are seeking class-action status for the borrowers’ Fair Housing Act claims, which were initially rejected by a lower court. The court previously ruled that each borrower would have to sue on his or her own. The issue on appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is...

In trading Thursday, Ocwen’s share price was up almost 8.0 percent on the day to $1.69 a share.

Jumbo mortgage originations declined by 2.0 percent during the first quarter of 2016, mirroring the modest downturn in overall mortgage lending from the previous quarter. Jumbo originations – including loans that were within the high-cost loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA and VA – totaled $100.61 billion in the first quarter, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. The sector accounted for 26.5 percent of total originations during the first three months of the year, down slightly from a 26.7 percent share in the fourth quarter. The jumbo share of total originations has generally been...[Includes three data tables]

There is a fighting chance that agency high-cost limits could go up in 2017.

Chase serviced $169.70 billion of jumbos at March 31, up 27.3 percent from the year before….

Originations of interest-only mortgages increased sharply in the first quarter of 2016, according to a new analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. A group of 12 lenders originated $8.72 billion in IOs in the first quarter, up 26.9 percent from the previous quarter and a 29.8 percent increase from same period in 2015. IO originations in the first three months of 2016 even topped the $8.61 billion in IO originations by the lenders in the second quarter of 2015. [Includes one data chart] ...

The outstanding supply of single-family MBS in the market fell slightly in the first quarter, but you have to go two paces to the right of the decimal point to see it. A new Inside MBS & ABS analysis indicates that outstanding MBS totaled $6.407 trillion as of the end of March. That was down 0.01 percent from the previous quarter, stalling a steady expansion of the market that took place in 2015. And with a modest 0.2 percent increase in total single-family mortgage debt outstanding, the modest contraction in MBS nudged...[Includes two data tables]

Lone Star Funds is preparing to issue a $161.71 million nonprime mortgage-backed security that will close next week. COLT 2016-1 Mortgage Loan Trust received an A rating from DBRS and Fitch Ratings. The deal marks the first nonprime MBS backed by new originations to receive a rating since the financial crisis. It will also be the largest post-crisis nonprime MBS issued to date, topping a $150.35 million MBS from Angel Oak Capital Advisors in December. Officials at Fitch Ratings said ...

Wells Fargo services more than a third of the jumbo mortgages serviced by the top 30 lenders in the sector, according to a new analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Wells serviced a portfolio of jumbo mortgages with an unpaid principal balance of $268.16 billion as of the end of the first quarter of 2016. The bank’s jumbo servicing portfolio increased by 13.0 percent compared with the first quarter of 2015. The group of 30 companies handled ... [Includes one data chart]

Performance data on nonprime mortgages originated by Caliber Home Loans in recent years suggest that it’s possible to originate loans to borrowers who don’t qualify for agency financing without experiencing major delinquencies. Caliber started originating non-agency mortgages in its portfolio loan program in the fourth quarter of 2014. None of the mortgages have been 60 or more days past due, according to a term sheet for a pending nonprime mortgage-backed security ...