It was thought that with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau working on a new regulation to clarify key portions of the TRID integrated-disclosure rule and assignee liability that the scratch-and-dent market in TRID-defective loans would grind to a halt. But that’s not how it’s turned out. According to investors in “S&D” TRID mortgages and traders who play in the space, auctions of mortgages with errors (of all sorts) have continued...

Jumbo mortgages accounted for 20.3 percent of total first-lien originations in the first quarter of 2016, according to estimates by Inside Nonconforming Markets. While jumbo production declined slightly in the first quarter compared with the previous period, overall originations posted a steeper drop. An estimated $77.0 billion in jumbos were originated in the first quarter of 2016, down 1.3 percent from the previous quarter and up by 6.9 percent compared with ... [Includes one data chart]

Portfolio lending remains a more viable option than securitization for lenders in the non-agency mortgage market in part because of the depth and variety of funding sources that allow them to offer a wide range of products. Depository institutions rely heavily on low-cost retail deposits to fund their retained mortgage portfolios, according to panelists speaking at the Mortgage Bankers Association secondary market conference in New York this week. A typical customer of ...

One of the biggest factors limiting the issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities is the strong appetite banks have to hold jumbos in portfolio. Redwood Trust, which aims to issue jumbo MBS, had adapted by competing with banks and working with them. Redwood had a gross margin of 140 basis points on its jumbo business in the first quarter of 2016, much higher than the 59 basis points in gross margins on jumbos Redwood had in the full year of 2015 ...

For the issuance of mortgage-backed securities with non-qualified mortgages to take off, industry analysts suggest that banks need to play a larger role. To this point, nonbanks have been the only issuers of non-QM MBS. Ron D’Vari and Timothy Bernstein, analysts at New Oak, authored an overview of non-QM MBS issued in the latest issue of The Journal of Structured Finance, which was published this month. The analysts said real estate investment trusts and hedge funds ...

After declining for 10 consecutive quarters, the serious delinquency rate on subprime mortgages increased in the first quarter of 2016, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The non-seasonally-adjusted serious delinquency rate on subprime mortgages was 12.41 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2016, up from 12.39 percent the previous quarter and down from 15.17 percent in the first quarter of 2015. The serious delinquency rate ... [Includes six briefs]

FHA activity was lackluster in the first three months of 2016 as loan originations fell 7.8 percent from the prior quarter, according to Inside FHA/VA Lending’s analysis of agency data. The weak first-quarter production of $53.5 billion appeared to continue a trend from 2015, which saw the fourth quarter close with $58.1 billion, down significantly from $73.7 billion in the third quarter. In contrast, FHA originations fared better year-over year. Loan production was up 35.6 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. Purchase lending totaled $36.5 billion in the first three months with overall production trending downward during the period. Borrowers in the 640-679 and 680-719 credit score ranges made up the bulk of new endorsements for January and February, the latest FHA data show. It is unlikely that trend will change even if March endorsements were added. Between all ... [ 2 charts ]

All three major food groups in the contemporary mortgage market – government-insured, jumbo and conventional conforming – saw roughly the same drop in new originations from the fourth quarter of 2015 to the first three months of 2016, according to a new analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. Production of loans with FHA, VA and rural housing guarantees held up a little better than the other sectors, with estimated originations slipping 1.0 percent from the fourth quarter. Although purchase mortgages account for a relatively higher share of originations in the government-insured market, there was a boost in refinance lending, especially in the VA program, that helped sustain overall production in the sector. The conventional-conforming and jumbo markets were...[Includes two data tables]

Issuance of jumbo MBS has fallen off since mortgage disclosure requirements set by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took effect in October. While the slowdown in jumbo MBS issuance has been blamed on TRID, there still appears to be plenty of demand from secondary market investors for jumbo whole loans. Redwood Trust’s jumbo origination and sales volume has been humming along without much impact from the CFPB’s combined Truth in Lending Act and ...

Industry participants are gearing up for non-agency MBS backed by non-qualified mortgages, but don’t expect a flood of volume anytime soon. Four non-agency MBS backed by new nonprime mortgages were issued in 2015, the largest of which was a $150.35 million deal from Angel Oak Capital Advisors. None of the deals were subject to risk-retention requirements that took effect at the end of 2015 and none were rated. A rating on a non-QM MBS could improve...