Underwriting trends for jumbo mortgage-backed securities were mixed as of the third quarter of 2014, according to an analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. While some issuers started to include mortgages with higher loan-to-value ratios, average combined LTV ratios in jumbo MBS were actually higher for deals issued in the fourth quarter of 2013 than those priced in the third quarter of 2014. Average credit scores on issuance for the third quarter were ... [Includes one data chart]

Boosters of the non-agency market are trying to solve too many problems at once, according to Matthew Nichols, a managing partner at Deephaven Mortgage. He said work by various groups to set standards and address the problems confronting the non-agency market is an effort to create a world where non-agency MBS never take a first loss. “We are taking a simpler approach, accumulating nonprime, non-QM mortgages and securitizing them,” Nichols said this week at ...

California continued to dominate jumbo originations in 2013, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The $96.74 billion in jumbos originated in California in 2013 accounted for 36.9 percent of total jumbo production during the year. The analysis defines jumbos as loans that exceed a county’s government-sponsored enterprise loan limit for 1-unit mortgages. If the county isn’t available, data cover ... [Includes one data chart]

Officials at Five Oaks Investment said the real estate investment trust plans to continue its involvement in the jumbo mortgage-backed security market after aggregating some of the mortgages included in the $355.6 million JPMorgan Mortgage Trust 2014-OAK4. “This represents the culmination of our residential whole loan strategy that we have been implementing since last year, and we actively look forward to participating in additional transactions in the near future as our loan purchase volumes ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week issued a final rule providing lenders with a right to cure a mistake when the points and fees on what was intended to be a qualified mortgage inadvertently surpass the allowable points-and-fees cap on QMs. Points and fees charged to a borrower for a QM generally can’t exceed 3.0 percent of the loan principal at the time the loan is made. If a lender discovers after the loan has closed that the ... [Includes three briefs]

Ginnie Mae this week provided new details to the long-anticipated plan for increased issuer net worth and liquidity and a new performance scoring method for issuer activity – changes that could adversely affect small issuers and portfolio servicers. In remarks at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention in Las Vegas, Ginnie Mae President Ted Tozer said the changes are part of a larger effort to ensure the continuing flexibility and availability of the agency’s mortgage-backed securities program to as many entities as possible. New types of issuers and counterparties have entered the agency-backed MBS market in the wake of the financial crisis, which called for adjustments and tailored approaches to the evolving housing finance market, Tozer noted. Tozer said both policy changes and staff expertise will ensure the success of ...

With most “easy” refinance business long gone, some lenders have turned their attention to lower credit-quality borrowers. New research from Fair Isaac suggests that borrowers with the lowest credit scores are showing improved performance, helping to ease some concerns about lending to such borrowers. Ethan Dornhelm, principal scientist at Fair Isaac, said average FICO scores tend to decline during an economic downturn, as consumers have more difficulty meeting loan obligations ...

Thanks to a heavy supply of scratch-and-dent deals and a rebound in jumbo mortgage securitizations, new issuance in the non-agency MBS market jumped by 57.4 percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking. A total of $8.99 billion of non-agency MBS were issued during the third quarter, a major increase from the $5.71 billion issued in the previous three-month period. Year-to-date issuance was still off 27.3 percent from the first nine months of 2013, and it is doubtful that annual volume this year will top 2013’s total when the year is over. Issuance of prime non-agency MBS in the third quarter was...[Includes three data charts]

A federal judge in New York has cleared the way for investors to proceed with a $10 billion class-action suit against JPMorgan in relation to the 2007 sale of non-agency MBS. Judge Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, however, limited the scope of the class-action suit to JPMorgan’s liability but did not certify as to damage. Explaining his decision to narrow the scope of the suit, Oetken said...