Ginnie Mae servicers reported a small increase in total production on a quarterly basis and a modest improvement year-over-year, according to an Inside FHA Lending analysis of FHA data. Third quarter servicing volume was up 2.1 percent to $1.3 trillion from the previous quarter and 9.7 percent from the same period last year. Not surprisingly, top-ranked Wells Fargo Mortgage and second-place Bank of America accounted for 52.0 percent of total production. Wells Fargo grew its Ginnie Mae servicing portfolio to $399.6 billion in the third quarter, 4.2 percent better than the previous quarter and a 17.4 percent improvement from a year ago. That bumped up Wells’ market share to ... [1 chart]

Major home-equity lenders continued to show little interest in the sector during the third quarter of 2012, despite signs of strengthening home values, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance market analysis and ranking. New originations of home-equity loans – including closed-end seconds and home-equity lines of credit – remained at a sluggish $14.0 billion in the third quarter, unchanged from the previous period. The HEL market in 2012 has rebounded about 5.3 percent from the pace set during the first nine months of 2011. The uptick in new HEL originations has not been...[Includes three data charts]

Mortgage securitization rates remained at record levels through the third quarter of 2012, with 86.3 percent of primary market originations being financed as MBS, according to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. A total of $1.15 trillion of MBS backed by recently originated loans were issued through the first nine months of the year, soaking up most of the $1.33 trillion in new production during that period. The market is on track to top the record 84.4 percent securitization rate set for the full year back in 2009, after two years in which the rate had drifted somewhat lower. During the third quarter, the securitization rate surged...[Includes one data chart]

A new non-agency jumbo MBS from a subsidiary of Credit Suisse Group includes some key differences compared with Redwood Trust deals, while pumping life into the non-agency market. DLJ Mortgage Capital issued a $329.89 million non-agency jumbo MBS late last week via a private placement; it was the company’s third of 2012. CSMC Trust 2012-CIM3 received a AAA rating from Standard & Poor’s with credit enhancement of 5.85 percent on the top-rated tranche. The new Credit Suisse deal included...

Originations of non-agency jumbo mortgages through three quarters in 2012 increased by 23.3 percent compared with the same period in 2011. While 12 non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities have been issued this year, jumbo originations are largely being held in portfolio by banks competing for high-quality borrowers. An estimated $148.0 billion in non-agency jumbos were originated through the first nine months of 2012, including an estimated $52.0 billion in ... [Includes one data chart]

A subsidiary of Credit Suisse Group last week issued a non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security, its third of the year and the first that did not include mortgages from the shuttered MetLife. The loans were acquired on a flow basis by DLJ Mortgage Capital, a Credit Suisse affiliate. CSMC Trust 2012-CIM3 is backed by $329.89 million of jumbo loans originated by 15 lenders, including Quicken Loans (35.2 percent), PHH Mortgage (19.7 percent) and First Savings Mortgage (16.8 percent). The average ...

Redwood Trust could issue a seventh non-agency mortgage-backed security before the end of this year, according to officials at the real estate investment trust, and the company is ramping up to hit a pace of a new MBS every month. “In terms of the residential business, generally I would say the stars are aligning,” Martin Hughes, CEO of Redwood, said last week during a presentation to investors. He noted increased guaranty fees for the government-sponsored enterprises, a decrease in conforming loan limits ...

Participants in the non-agency mortgage-backed security market are largely opposed to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposal to create a platform to issue standardized non-agency MBS. While the FHFA suggested that the platform could revive the non-agency market, industry participants suggest that many issues besides a platform are hindering non-agency MBS issuance. “Key elements of the platform that are advantages for government-sponsored enterprise securitizations, such as standardization ...

Potential violations to a servicing agreement Ocwen Financial signed in 2011 with the New York State Department of Financial Services have stalled Ocwen’s efforts to close its acquisition of Homeward Residential and servicing from Residential Capital. Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the DFS, said he would not approve Ocwen’s latest acquisitions until a monitor was established to oversee Ocwen’s compliance with the September 2011 agreement. This week, Ronald Faris, president and CEO of Ocwen ...

A federal court in California recently dismissed claims by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. related to non-agency mortgage-backed securities purchased by a bank in 2007 and 2008. According to the ruling, the FDIC should have filed the lawsuit long ago and tolling did not render the claims as timely. FDIC v Countrywide Financial relates to $62.6 million in AAA-rated Countrywide MBS purchased by Strategic Capital Bank in 2007 and 2008. The FDIC was appointed as receiver of the bank on May 22, 2009 ...