Although PHH Corp. refuses to answer questions regarding a key private-label services contract to originate mortgage loans for Merrill Lynch, most analysts that follow the company believe the Wall Street giant will renew the agreement. To date, PHH will not say either way, but observers of the situation believe it’s more a technical matter than anything else. The general consensus is that Merrill has verbally agreed to renew, but hasn’t signed on the dotted line. On its recent earnings call, PHH management said...

Piggyback mortgage financing structures appear to be creeping back into the market, a trend that some observers say could destabilize the industry. Before the financial crisis, many borrowers combined a first-lien mortgage for 80 percent of home value with a second lien of 10 percent or more in order to avoid paying private mortgage insurance. While many first-lien mortgages are still originated with a simultaneous second in recent years, the combined loan-to-value ratio of the two has been capped at 80 percent or less. “From what we’ve seen from lenders who are interested in expanding their customer base, there appears...

Originations of jumbo mortgages continued to increase in the second quarter of 2015 and lenders are chasing volume by lowering interest rates and loosening underwriting standards. Some $93.0 billion in jumbos were originated in the second quarter, according to estimates by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Halfway through 2015, originations totaled an estimated $163.0 billion, up 58.3 percent compared with the mid-point of 2014. Banks continue to ... [Includes one data chart]

Two Harbors Investment is ramping up its conduit activity with plans to increase issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities and a new non-qualified-mortgage offering. The real estate investment trust is on track to issue its fifth jumbo MBS of the year this month. Bill Roth, Two Harbors’ CIO, said the REIT could issue as many as 10 jumbo MBS this year. He said that as of the end of June, the REIT’s pipeline for jumbo acquisitions was approximately $1.3 billion ...

Redwood Trust this week reduced the amount of jumbo-mortgage volume the real estate investment trust expects to acquire this year, citing competition for originations, among other issues. At the beginning of the year, officials at Redwood projected that the REIT would purchase $7.0 billion in jumbos. Through the end of July, Redwood had purchased $3.0 billion in jumbos. Officials at Redwood said the REIT is on track to purchase $5.5 billion to $7.0 billion in jumbos ...

Two of the most prolific issuers of jumbo mortgage-backed securities this year have offered investors some variety with their latest deals. JPMorgan Chase stocked its deal with older loans while Two Harbors Investment has focused on fresh originations. Last week, Chase issued JPMorgan Mortgage Trust 2015-5. The $489.64 million deal was backed by loans with a weighted average loan age of 28.9 months, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency. The MBS ...

Nearly two years after facing difficulty selling a jumbo mortgage-backed security, Shellpoint Partners is preparing to issue a new deal. The $269.29 million Shellpoint Co-Originator Trust 2015-1 is set to receive AAA ratings with credit enhancement of 8.30 percent on the senior tranche, according to a presale report from DBRS. The deal includes originations from Shellpoint’s New Penn Financial along with contributions from 30 other lenders. Shellpoint issued its first jumbo MBS ...

The fastest-growing sectors of the mortgage market during the second quarter of 2015 were jumbo loans and government-insured production, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. The conventional-conforming segment remains the biggest piece of the mortgage market, accounting for 52.8 percent of originations during the second quarter. Back in early 2013, when refinance activity accounted for three of every four new home loans, the conventional-conforming share was 68.1 percent. Lenders generated...[Includes two data charts]

Heavy refinance activity in the first half of 2015 caused a significant shift in the kinds of single-family MBS produced by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. Issuance of MBS backed by adjustable-rate mortgages has dropped sharply in 2015, and ARMs haven’t had much of a presence for years. ARM MBS production by Fannie and Freddie in the first half of 2015 was down 20.1 percent from a year ago. The drop in Ginnie ARM securitization was less severe, 18.3 percent, but ARMs accounted for an even smaller share of overall production (1.7 percent) at Ginnie than the 2.9 percent share they had in government-sponsored enterprise MBS. Oddly, the heavy refinance market in the first half of 2015 did not appear...[Includes two data tables]

Industry participants largely support a plan from the Federal Housing Finance Agency to tie adjustments of the conforming loan limits to the FHFA’s “expanded data” House Price Index. The extent to which conforming loan limits should be adjusted, however, remains a topic subject to debate. In May, the FHFA noted that home prices were close to recovering from the aftermath of the financial crisis, which could prompt an increase to the conforming loan limit. The $417,000 conforming loan limit took effect in 2006 and the FHFA was prevented from reducing the limit by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The FHFA proposed...