The mortgage market cranked up new originations significantly during the second quarter of 2015, lifting production to its highest level in nearly two years, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Lenders produced an estimated $445 billion of first-lien single-family mortgages during the second quarter, an increase of 23.6 percent over the first three months of 2015. It marked the strongest origination volume since the second quarter of 2013, when the industry was in the middle of a refinance boom that generated over $2 trillion in new production over a 12-month period. The party this time around doesn’t look...[Includes two data tables]

Several large servicing portfolios of $1 billion or more hit the market in the past few weeks, but dealmakers and investors continue to wonder about the largest prize of them all: RoundPoint Mortgage, Charlotte, NC, which owns roughly $52.18 billion of receivables and ranks among the top 25. Investment banking officials who claim to have knowledge of the RoundPoint situation maintain that its owner, The Tavistock Group, is hell-bent on selling the nonbank, but as far as coming to final terms with a buyer, any buyer, that’s a different matter. It’s...

New issuance of non-mortgage ABS increased in most major product categories during the second quarter of 2015, although a slowdown in floorplan deals dampened the party slightly. The ABS market generated $54.15 billion in new issuance during the second quarter, a gain of 5.8 percent from the first three months of 2015. It was the strongest new issuance figure since the financial market meltdown, with the previous high ($54.22 billion) coming in the third quarter of 2007. ABS issuance has climbed...[Includes two data tables]

JPMorgan Chase has released an expansive look into third-party due diligence findings on a pending jumbo MBS under new disclosure requirements from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The increased loan-level disclosures could boost investor confidence in new non-agency MBS. Documents filed through the SEC’s electronic system and posted on the agency’s website include detailed, loan-level reports from three due diligence firms that examined mortgages set to be included in JPMorgan Mortgage Trust 2015-4. American Mortgage Consultants, a due diligence provider, said...

New production of non-agency MBS declined sharply from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2015, although year-to-date issuance suggests that 2015 could top last year’s total output. Just $13.92 billion of non-agency MBS were issued during the second quarter, a 40.0 percent tumble from the first three months of the year. The first quarter of 2015 was the biggest quarter in non-agency MBS issuance since the second quarter of 2009. The biggest components of the market have been...[Includes three data tables]

Bond investing giant Pacific Investment Management Co., commonly known as PIMCO, is getting more serious about buying a mortgage franchise and has zeroed in on a mid-sized nonbank, according to industry officials who claim to have knowledge of the talks. But it’s not mortgage banking, per se, that PIMCO is ultimately interested in – it’s the MBS market. “PIMCO has been in the MBS game for many years, so I would think this is possible,” said industry consultant Paul Hindman. Hindman has...

No matter how cleverly hidden, the Securities and Exchange Commission can eventually ferret out bad business practices – a costly lesson learned by AlphaBridge Capital Management. The SEC ordered AlphaBridge, a registered hedge-fund adviser, and two of its principals to pay a $5 million penalty for allegedly inflating the prices of illiquid MBS held in hedge-fund portfolios managed by the firm. The SEC charged...

Issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities leveled off in the second quarter of 2015 after posting strong gains in the previous three quarters, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Some $3.11 billion in jumbo MBS was issued in the second quarter, down 32.5 percent from the first three months of the year. After unexpected fluctuations in interest rates in mid-2013, jumbo MBS issuance averaged ... [Includes one data chart]

Two rating services in the past month have completed reviews of jumbo mortgage-backed securities issued in 2010 and later. The reviews led to numerous rating confirmations, some upgrades and no downgrades, prompting questions about whether criteria for rating jumbo MBS are too stringent. “I’d guess the rating services internally said ‘never again’ for downgrades,” said one participant in the jumbo MBS market. Officials at Fitch Ratings and DBRS ...

For the non-agency market, the impact of anticipated action by the Federal Reserve on short-term interest rates depends on whether interest rates on mortgages also increase, according to industry analysts. Industry participants continue to wait for the Fed to increase the federal funds rate and ponder the impact higher rates will have on originations and performance. “The effect of an interest rate increase on new residential mortgage-backed security transactions will ...