Small lenders have accounted for a growing share of contributions to non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities. Some deals have included more than 70 lenders, with most of the lenders contributing less than 5 percent of the volume of mortgages included in a security. While the lenders’ individual contributions to a particular jumbo MBS are small, they add up to significant market share, particularly when issuers don’t identify the lenders in prospectus documents filed with the Securities ... [Includes two data charts]

Rising interest rates haven’t stopped JPMorgan Chase and Redwood Trust from working on new non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities with loans originated in the lower-rate environment. Chase’s security will include mortgages with an average age of four months, while the mortgages in Redwood’s jumbo MBS are about two months old. The weighted average gross coupon on mortgages in Chase’s $345.05 million non-agency jumbo MBS is 3.79 percent, well below the average 4.68 percent interest rate quoted ...

First Republic Bank is one of the few bank originators of non-agency jumbo mortgages that has sold a significant share of its production in the secondary market in the past year. Officials at the bank said the sales have been driven by borrowers’ preference for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and investor demand in the non-agency market, both of which have changed recently. In the first quarter of 2013, First Republic originated $2.32 billion of mortgages, including $1.85 billion in non-agency jumbo mortgages ...

Mortgage production volume remained fairly steady in the second quarter as a growing purchase-mortgage market helped offset a weakening in refinance lending, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. Mortgage lenders originated an estimated $495.0 billion of home loans during the second quarter of 2013, down just 1.0 percent from the first three months of the year. That pushed year-to-date production volume to just shy of $1 trillion, and put the market 14.4 percent ahead of the pace set during the first six months of 2012. It figures...[Includes two data charts]

FHA Commissioner Carol Galante this week expressed support for bipartisan reform legislation in the Senate that would provide the agency with tools it had requested to strengthen its finances and operation. Further discussion and clarification, however, may be needed with regard to certain provisions as well as issues that were not addressed in the draft bill, she said. Galante appeared as the sole witness at a hearing called by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to consider a draft of the FHA Solvency Act of 2013. The Senate bill is significantly narrower in scope than the FHA provisions included in a broader mortgage finance reform bill approved by the House Financial Services Committee this week. The Senate bill would help...

The steady recovery in prime jumbo securitizations and financing needs of nonbank mortgage servicers fueled a modest increase in non-agency MBS issuance during the second quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. A total of $10.08 billion of non-agency MBS were issued during the second quarter, up 17.6 percent from the first three months of the year. It was the strongest three-month output in two years and lifted year-to-date issuance to $18.66 billion, a 119.0 percent increase over the same period in 2012. Re-securitizations of seasoned non-agency MBS have tapered...[Includes two data charts]

Issuance of non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities increased by 9.9 percent in the second quarter of 2013 compared with the elevated levels seen in the previous quarter, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance MBS Database. However, rising interest rates and a reduction in refinance originations could slow issuance going forward, according to industry analysts. A total of $4.34 billion in non-agency jumbo MBS was issued in the second quarter of 2013, with deals from five issuers ... [Includes one data chart]

As issuance of non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities has increased in recent quarters and conforming jumbo MBS issuance has remained relatively flat, the non-agency sector has started to account for a larger share of jumbo mortgage securitization. A total of $15.07 billion in jumbo MBS – mortgages with balances above the traditional conforming loan limit of $417,000 – was issued in the second quarter of 2013, according to the Inside Mortgage Finance MBS Database ... [Includes one data chart]

A subsidiary of Nomura Holdings is preparing to issue a non-agency jumbo MBS, the Wall Street firm’s first deal backed by new production since 2007. Rising interest rates and concerns about investor demand don’t seem to have put a damper on non-agency MBS issuance, as Redwood Trust cranked out another jumbo deal last week and Springleaf Finance issued a security backed by vintage subprime mortgages this week. The $440.08 million non-agency jumbo MBS from Nomura Corporate Funding Americas is set to receive a AAA rating with credit enhancement of 7.60 percent on the top-rated tranche, according to a presale report released this week by Kroll Bond Rating Agency. The credit enhancement was increased due to geographic concentration risk because 74.0 percent of the mortgages to be included in NRP Mortgage Trust 2013-1 were originated in California. Fitch Ratings warned...

A subsidiary of Nomura Holdings is working on issuing a non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security comprised solely of originations by First Republic Bank. The pending deal is set to receive a AAA rating from Kroll Bond Rating Agency, while Fitch Ratings warned that the proposed credit enhancement levels on the deal are too low for a AAA rating. The $440.08 million NRP Mortgage Trust 2013-1 is structured to include credit enhancement of 7.60 percent on the tranche with a AAA rating from KBRA. Fitch said ...