Mortgage underwriting standards have loosened in recent years, led by the jumbo market and reduced overlays on agency mortgages, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. However, underwriting standards aren’t nearly as lenient as they were in the early 2000s, prompting some to call for further loosening. The MBA’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index has trended up since the beginning of 2012. “Most of the action in terms of loosening has been on the jumbo side,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA chief economist, at a talk hosted this week by the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center. Separately, he noted...

The number of issuers offering jumbo mortgage-backed securities will increase in 2015, according to analysts at various rating services, but total issuance volume isn’t expected to grow by much compared with this year. Attracting investors willing to purchase AAA tranches of jumbo MBS remains a key obstacle. Some $5.4 billion in jumbo MBS were issued during the first three quarters in 2014, according to Inside Nonconforming Markets, including $3.1 billion in the third quarter ...

Origination of interest-only mortgages declined in 2014 after the rule took effect that made them ineligible for qualified-mortgage status, but the product is far from dead and could see a rebound in 2015. A group of 15 lenders originated a total of $21.59 billion in IOs through three quarters in 2014, according to a new Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis and ranking. That was down 28.0 percent from the same period in 2013. IO lending slowed ... [Includes one data chart]

Bank and thrift holdings of first-lien mortgages increased in the third quarter of 2014 compared with the third quarter of 2013, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Banks and thrifts held $1.76 trillion in first liens as of the end of the third quarter of 2014, up 0.4 percent compared with the same period last year. The growth was driven by jumbo mortgages. On a quarterly basis, portfolio runoff and loan sales slightly outpaced ... [Includes one data chart]

A savings bank that focuses on subservicing has been the most active servicer of loans in jumbo mortgage-backed securities since 2013, according to Fitch Ratings. A number of rating services view the firm, Cenlar, as a strong servicer with good prospects for continued growth. Last week Fitch affirmed its RPS2 rating for Cenlar as a servicer of prime mortgages that demonstrates “high performance in overall servicing ability.” Fitch said that since 2013, Cenlar has added ...

Credit Suisse appears to be close to issuing a jumbo mortgage-backed security with some loans sourced from Five Oaks Investment. Stonegate Mortgage announced an expansion of its offerings of non-agency mortgage products last week. The lender is offering adjustable-rate mortgages with loan-to-value ratios as high as 90 percent and no requirement for mortgage insurance. The loans can have balances as high as the conforming loan limit ... [Includes three briefs]

Production of FHA-insured jumbo loans ballooned in the third quarter of 2014 reflecting heightened activity in this loan segment during the period. A 23.7 percent quarter-over-quarter surge helped push FHA jumbo lenders’ total volume to $7.71 billion at the end of the nine-month period ending Sept. 30. It was a significant increase for a segment that represents only a sliver of FHA’s overall business. However, compared to last year’s first nine months, volume was down by almost half (48.8 percent) as lenders struggled to keep pace with last year’s output. Strong purchase demand helped drive FHA jumbo originations (all FHA loans over $417,000 up to $625,500 in high-cost areas), as purchase mortgages accounted for 81.1 percent of all FHA jumbos originated during the first nine months of the year. Fixed-rates comprised 86.4 percent of FHA jumbos originated during ... [1 chart]

Home-equity lending continued to grow during the third quarter of 2014 – in fact, it was the fastest-growing segment of the mortgage market – but depository institutions reported further declines in the unpaid balances of these assets on their balance sheets. Lenders funded an estimated $20 billion of new home-equity lines of credit during the third quarter, up 17.6 percent from the previous three-month period. That compared to a 9.8 percent increase in total mortgage originations during the period, and it was the best quarterly HEL production figure in five years, according to Inside Mortgage Finance estimates. Still, the supply of home-equity loans outstanding fell...[Includes three data charts]

Naysayers have been predicting the demise of publicly traded mortgage real estate investment trusts for two years now and have been consistently disappointed. It’s hard to say whether things will be different this time around. According to figures compiled by Inside MBS & ABS, it appears that most REITs have been intentionally reducing their MBS holdings over the past several quarters, preparing for the day when bond prices finally fall. At Sept. 30, 16 publicly traded REITs held...[Includes one data chart]

Mortgage securitization rates continued to trend lower through the first nine months of 2014 as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac captured a smaller share of the conventional conforming market. A new Inside MBS & ABS analysis reveals that 70.4 percent of home loans originated during the first nine months of the year were packaged into MBS. For all of 2013, the securitization rate was 78.5 percent, and it reached as high as 84.4 percent in 2009, the first year following the financial meltdown. A key factor is...[Includes one data chart]