The Trump administration has officially set aside the 25 basis point cut in FHA annual premiums in a new mortgagee letter issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. Mortgagee Letter 2017-07 said that the annual-premium reduction HUD announced on Jan. 9 “has been suspended indefinitely.” Stakeholders will be notified in the event of a policy change, the letter added. The letter confirms reports earlier in the week that the FHA pricing adjustment was about to be spiked. Ben Carson, who had his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee last week, told lawmakers that he planned to work with the FHA director and financial experts to review the cut. However, the HUD secretary-designate gave no indication as to whether he favored a premium reduction that would benefit thousands of ...

In 2016, a mere $42.93 billion of non-agency MBS were issued, down 32.5 percent from the previous year, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. It was the second-lowest annual output since 2012. The picture would look a bit brighter if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac credit-risk transfer deals were included, as well as single-family rental securitizations, which both compete for the investors that might be interested in non-agency MBS. But the government-sponsored enterprise CRT deals are debt issues and they couldn’t be any more “agency,” while the SFR securitizations look a lot more like commercial MBS than residential MBS. The prime jumbo market hit...[Includes three data tables]

With two of the nation’s largest originators of nonprime and non-qualified mortgages hoping for a record production year in 2017, the mostly anemic securitization market for these types of credits could receive a real boost. But the big question remains: how much will the two firms – Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions and Citadel Servicing Corp. – tap the MBS market? In 2016, the Irvine, CA-based Citadel funded...

Two Wall Street banks have agreed to separate settlements with the Department of Justice to resolve civil claims related to their issuance and underwriting of nonprime residential MBS leading up to the financial crisis. Under the terms of the settlements, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank have agreed to pay the DOJ $2.48 billion and $3.1 billion, respectively, related to the securitization, underwriting and issuance of residential MBS prior to 2008. In addition, Credit Suisse ($2.8 billion) and Deutsche Bank ($4.1 billion) will provide...

Issuance of prime non-agency mortgage-backed securities fell sharply during 2016 from already low issuance levels, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Forecasts for issuance this year are largely subdued, with some industry analysts noting that the prime non-agency MBS market is “in limbo.” Some $9.32 billion in prime non-agency MBS were issued in 2016, a 22.8 percent decline from the previous year. Issuance volume ... [Includes one data chart]

A number of large investors that purchased non-agency mortgage-backed securities before the financial crisis have indicated that they won’t be willing to invest in new issuance until issuers standardize representations and warranties. “Investors have lost confidence in the architecture of this market,” an investor said in December at the Structured Finance Industry Group’s RMBS Symposium, which was produced by Information Management Network. The investor was frustrated ...

The portfolio holdings of first-lien residential mortgages at banks and thrifts continued to increase during the third quarter of 2016, according to a ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Banks and thrifts held $1.93 trillion in first liens at Sept. 30, up 1.6 percent from the previous quarter and a 3.9 percent increase compared with the third quarter of 2015. Originations and acquisitions of mortgages – both jumbos and non-jumbos ... [Includes one data chart]

The denial rate on jumbo mortgages varies significantly among lenders, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Among the top 25 lenders, denial rates for jumbo applications in 2015 ranged from a low of 2.3 percent to a high of 76.8 percent. Overall, the top 25 lenders denied 18.1 percent of the $367.49 billion in total unpaid principal balance for jumbo-mortgage ... [Includes one data chart]

LendSure Mortgage, which originated its first loan in July 2015, contributed mortgages with a total unpaid principal balance of $14.62 million to a nonprime mortgage-backed security recently issued by an affiliate of Lone Star Funds. The lender focuses on non-qualified mortgages via the broker channel. LendSure, headquartered in San Diego, was founded by former executive managers from Accredited Home Lenders, a prominent subprime lender before the financial crisis ...

Spring EQ recently launched operations, focusing on home-equity loans. The nonbank was co-founded by Jerry Schiano, president and CEO of New Penn Financial, a position he will also retain. HEL lending is dominated by banks and credit unions. However, Schiano said Spring EQ aims to compete with other types of lenders. “I want to help underserved borrowers who are currently relying on high-rate personal loans and credit cards or refinancing with large up-front fees,” he said ...