Two types of shared-appreciation transactions are being touted as beneficial to borrowers, either allowing them to buy homes at below-market prices or receive advanced payment for expected appreciation. Analysts at the Urban Institute note that nonprofit housing associations and municipalities offer shared-appreciation programs that can make homes more affordable for first-time buyers, people with bad credit or buyers who lack the necessary downpayment or income to ...

Impac Mortgage Holdings increased its originations of non-qualified mortgages in the first quarter of 2015. The nonbank had $11.3 million in originations of its AltQM products during the quarter, topping the $7.0 million in non-QM production Impac had in the second half of 2014. Underwriting standards for jumbo mortgages continued to loosen in April, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Underwriting for jumbos has loosened almost every month since ... [Includes three briefs]

Price reduction and improving economic factors helped push FHA volume up in the first quarter of 2015, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis of agency data. Production of forward single-family mortgages insured by FHA increased by 12.3 percent in the first quarter to $39.5 billion from $35.2 billion in the prior quarter, powered by a sharp uptick in refinances. FHA’s total refi business jumped from $2.29 billion in endorsements in February, a month of record snowstorms in the Northeast, to $8.15 billion in March. Total FHA forward-mortgage business rose by 83.8 percent from February, data showed. FHA streamline refis rose a whopping 144.1 percent quarter-over-quarter while conventional-to-FHA refis jumped 29.2 percent over the same period. Falling purchase loan volume, which was the reason for the overall decline in FHA originations last year, spilled over into ... [2 charts]

Ellington believes that one of the biggest opportunities for the company will be products geared toward self-employed borrowers.

The three latest deals have a combined UPB of $820 million. Successful votes to terminate servicers of non-agency MBS are uncommon...

In a recent 10-K filing Ocwen disclosed that on April 30, 2015 it announced agreements with the GSEs to sell portfolios of non-performing loan servicing rights.

Also, the mortgage cannot have been acquired through securitization, nor can it have certain verboten features.

CEO Dan Perl noted that the lender will surpass $30 million of fundings in May, a record for the company.

Five Oaks' management noted that the REIT has better control of its jumbo MBS exposure since the company issued its own security in April.

A unique stop-advance feature included in the jumbo MBS issued by Redwood Trust late last week was viewed favorably by investors, according to officials at the real estate investment trust. “We are pleased not only with the pricing execution on this transaction, but also with the level and depth of AAA investor interest,” Marty Hughes, Redwood’s CEO, said this week. The $356.45 million Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2015-2 included...