Strong growth in originations of non-qualified mortgages in recent years has helped the sector gain market share. Lenders in the non-QM market suggest that originations are set to continue to increase, with a 10 percent share of total originations seen as a reasonable goal.

If current trends hold in the official barometer used for adjusting conforming loan limits, look for the baseline limit to go up about 8 percent next year.

Wells Fargo plans to test the market for jumbo MBS issuance within the next year, according to John Shrewsberry, a senior executive vice president and chief financial officer at the bank.

Wells Fargo is getting closer to returning to the jumbo mortgage-backed security market, according to John Shrewsberry, a senior executive vice president and chief financial officer at the bank. “We will be securitizing some of our jumbo loans, which has been a dormant market for a long time, but just as a method of demonstrating liquidity and getting market pricing,” he said last week at a conference hosted by Barclays. Wells has been plotting a return to the non-agency MBS market for ...

A wide majority of banks and thrifts continued to increase their first-lien residential mortgage holdings in the second quarter, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Some $2.04 trillion of residential first liens were held in bank and thrift portfolios as of the end of June, up 0.9 percent from March and up 5.2 percent compared with June 2017. Among the top 50 banks and thrifts, only six reduced their holdings on an annual basis ... [Includes one data chart]

Deephaven Mortgage is preparing to issue its largest nonprime mortgage-backed security to date, according to presale reports published this week. The planned $326.1 million Deephaven Residential Mortgage Trust 2018-3 will top a $308.2 million deal the firm issued in January. Mortgages in the new deal look similar to previous issuance from Deephaven. The loans have a weighted-average credit score of 700, an average combined loan-to-value ratio of 72.7 percent and an average ...

Originations of adjustable-rate mortgages increased by 25.0 percent on a quarterly basis in the second quarter of 2018, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. An estimated $55.0 billion of ARMs were originated in the second quarter. The increase looks to be tied to seasonal factors and trends in interest rates. Through the first half of 2018, an estimated $99.0 billion of ARMs were originated, down 2.0 percent from ... [Includes one data chart]

Originations of government-insured mortgages rose 11.2 percent from the first to the second quarter of 2018, according to Inside Mortgage Finance estimates. That increase was slightly lower than the 17.1 percent gain in total first-lien originations over that period. The big winner for the second quarter was the jumbo sector, where loan volume surged 33.5 percent from the first three months of the year. On a year-to-date basis, government lending was down 12.6 percent from the first half of 2017. This reflects the steep decline in refinance lending in general, which affected FHA/VA production significantly. Jumbo lending was also down, by 6.6 percent, from the first six months of last year, but the conventional-conforming market saw a 4.2 percent gain at the midway point in 2018. FHA/VA loans accounted for 22.8 percent of first-lien originations in the first half of 2018. The government share for all of last year was ... [Chart]

Improved loan-sale execution in the non-agency market has taken a bite out of the conforming-jumbo business at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals. [Includes three data charts.]

Home-equity lending accelerated in the second quarter of 2018, although the outstanding supply of home-equity lines of credit and closed-end seconds continued on its years-long downward trajectory, a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals. [Includes three data charts.]