A rise in interest rates on mortgages will help First Republic Bank, San Francisco, gain market share in jumbo originations, according to officials at the bank. Through the first six months of 2018, First Republic ranked fourth among non-agency jumbo lenders, accounting for 3.8 percent of the estimated $140.0 billion of jumbo originations, according to Inside Nonconforming Markets. James Herbert, chairman and CEO of First Republic, noted that some jumbo lenders are reducing staff as originations decline ...

The latest prime non-agency mortgage-backed securities from Flagstar Bank and loanDepot include a mix of mortgages eligible for sale to the government-sponsored enterprises and non-agency jumbo mortgages. Flagstar included a further twist with its MBS, as the GSE-eligible mortgages are for investment properties. Such loans account for 77.9 percent of the planned $326.2 million Flagstar Mortgage Trust 2018-6RR. The issuance follows a $329.1 million deal that Flagstar issued in May ...

The interest-rate spread between non-agency jumbo mortgages and conforming mortgages is much closer than average interest rates suggest, according to an analysis by CoreLogic. During the second quarter of 2018, the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate jumbo mortgage was 33 basis points lower than the average rate for a conforming mortgage, according to CoreLogic. Archana Pradhan, a senior professional economist at CoreLogic, noted that the averages present a skewed view of ...

The Structured Finance Industry Group released an updated compliance review scope for due diligence reviews this week. The update addresses various changes to mortgage-disclosure standards since the initial review scope was released in 2016. The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization has established a workgroup to implement a standard dataset for grading non-agency mortgage-backed securities. MISMO said the current ... [Includes eight briefs]

The amount of single-family Ginnie Mae mortgage servicing rights increased a modest 0.9 percent during the third quarter, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside FHA/VA Lending. Some $1.858 trillion of Ginnie mortgage-backed securities were outstanding at the end of September, a 6.2 percent gain over the previous 12 months. Loans guaranteed by the VA continued to be the fastest growing segment of the Ginnie market. Volume was up 1.3 percent from the end of June, hitting $630.9 billion, an 11.0 percent increase from the same time last year. The FHA segment remained far bigger: $1.114 trillion at the end of the third quarter. However, its growth rate has been slower: 0.7 percent from June and 3.9 percent compared to September 2017. Loan performance deteriorated slightly in both programs. Some 92.9 percent of FHA loans were current at the end of September, down from ... [Charts]

Participants in Ginnie Mae’s single-family mortgage-backed securities program may expect new policy changes, including servicer and credit ratings for the largest issuers, clarification of “appropriate sources of liquidity” and other financial requirements. The changes come as issuer liquidity continues to be a primary concern for Ginnie Mae, particularly with nonbanks now the dominant segment in the single-family MBS program. “We’re working on those policies right now,” said Leslie Meaux Pordzik, Ginnie’s acting senior vice president, Office of Issuer and Portfolio Management, at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention in Washington, DC, this week. Nonbanks account for nearly two-thirds of Ginnie MBS issuance and approximately 75 percent of FHA and VA lending. Nonbanks serviced a record 61.1 percent of outstanding Ginnie single-family MBS at the end of the ...

Information technology improvement is the top priority of government lending programs in the coming months and into 2019. Agency representatives at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention in Washington, DC, said policy changes are in the works to enhance and improve operations, compliance and customer service. FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery, who joined the agency four months ago, said IT modernization is his primary concern. A state-of-the-art IT system and advanced data analytics are needed to manage FHA exposures effectively, he said. Montgomery made clear FHA has no plans to build a proprietary system but is considering the idea of shared technology, possibly with VA and USDA; something based on Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s systems; or some off-the-shelf software. In his view, a modern IT system would have automated underwriting that provides ...

Issuance trends for non-agency mortgage-backed securities stocked with newly-originated mortgages were mixed in the third quarter, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Issuance of prime non-agency MBS declined significantly on a sequential basis in the third quarter. And for the first time, expanded-credit MBS issuance volume topped prime non-agency MBS activity. Some $3.58 billion of expanded-credit MBS was ... [Includes one data chart]

Deephaven Mortgage’s recent adoption of an automated system to pre-qualify expanded-credit borrowers has prompted some speculation about whether fully automated underwriting systems could be used for originations of non-qualified mortgages. A number of expanded-credit lenders at the ABS East conference suggested that some automated underwriting is possible, but some aspects of the non-QM underwriting process will likely need human intervention. The conference was ...

American International Group is increasing the speed of its jumbo mortgage-backed security issuance and receiving better treatment in terms of credit enhancement requirements. An affiliate of AIG is preparing to issue a $395.7 million deal, according to presale reports released this week by Fitch Ratings and Kroll Bond Rating Agency. The issuance follows deals in March, May and September. The average loan age in AIG securities is also declining. Mortgages in the pending MBS have seasoned for ...