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]

Supporters of the non-agency residential MBS market will have plenty of heavy lifting to do next year, as they face an anticipated increase in volatility for some deals and a continued dominating presence in the broader market by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among a host of challenges. But at least there’s some degree of regulatory certainty for the market now, and it’s likely that opportunities will emerge for savvy investors to snap up some extra yield, according to a consensus of Wall Street analysts who cover the space. Analysts at Fitch Ratings expect to see the continuation of a slow recovery for the non-agency MBS space in 2015. “The recovery in primary U.S. RMBS issuance remains anemic as the industry continues to face challenges including continued government-sponsored enterprise dominance, more attractive financing alternatives such as whole-loan sales, new mortgage regulation, and a weak AAA investor base,” Fitch analysts said in a 2015 outlook piece. Also, despite the industry’s renewed efforts led by the Structured Finance Industry Group to resolve the absence of necessary structural reforms after the financial crisis, progress is...

Jumbo mortgage lending and securitization remained one of the bright spots in the home-loan business during the third quarter of 2014, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. A total of $81.8 billion in mortgages exceeding the traditional $417,000 conforming loan limit were produced during the third quarter, up 15.4 percent from the second quarter of 2014. Total mortgage originations were up 11.3 percent over the same period. Total jumbo activity included...[Includes three data charts]

The relatively strong performance of mortgages in vintage non-agency MBS could be disrupted by interest rate resets and the expiration of interest-only periods, according to analysts at Fitch Ratings. Roughly half of all performing first-lien mortgages in non-agency MBS will be exposed to monthly payment increases during the next five years, Fitch said in a report released this week. The rating service determined that if a borrower’s monthly payment increases by 35 percent, the probability of default for the borrower doubles. “The product that’s going to be most affected is...

Originations of jumbo mortgages increased in the third quarter of 2014 compared with the previous quarter, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliated publication. Big banks continue to have a strong appetite for jumbos, prompting some smaller banks to sell jumbos to them and keeping some nonbanks out of the jumbo mortgage-backed security market altogether. An estimated $65.0 billion in jumbos were originated in the third quarter of 2014 ... [Includes one data chart]

Goldman Sachs teamed with EverBank Financial to issue a unique jumbo mortgage-backed security last week, its first jumbo MBS since the financial crisis. The $282.80 million GS Mortgage-Backed Securities Trust 2014-EB1 received AAA ratings with credit enhancement of 8.35 percent on the senior tranche. All of the loans in the deal are hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages originated by EverBank. Some 7.9 percent of the ARMs have a 10-year interest-only period. The deal marked a shift ...

One of the chief concerns among some top institutional investors in the non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities market is coming up with a way to price the risks of poorly underwritten or serviced mortgages more effectively. The objective is to price deals so the costs associated with an origination or servicing failure will be more appropriately assigned to those responsible for the defect. During a recent industry conference, a managing director at ...