Issuers of non-agency mortgage-backed securities continued to bring a variety of deals in May. JPMorgan Chase and Redwood Trust are set to issue separate prime non-agency MBS and nonprime MBS is on the way from Deephaven Mortgage and Lone Star Funds. Both Chase and Redwood continue to include mortgages eligible for sale to the government-sponsored enterprises in their issuance. Such loans will account for essentially half of the $650.5 million issuance ...

Mortgage brokers and their wholesale funders gained some share in the FHA/VA market during the first quarter of 2018, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis. Survey data collected by Inside Mortgage Finance show that all three production channels took big hits in FHA/VA volume in early 2018. The $49.11 billion in government-insured lending reported by participating lenders was down 20.7 percent from the previous quarter and 10.8 percent below the volume the group generated in the first three months of 2017. Correspondent production remained the biggest source of FHA/VA loans, accounting for 53.5 percent of the survey sample in the first quarter. But production through this channel was down 22.2 percent from the previous three-month period, a slightly larger decline than seen overall. Four of the top five lenders in the group have strong correspondent platforms, especially ... [Chart]

Production of non-agency jumbo mortgages declined significantly in the first quarter of 2018, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. An estimated $60.0 billion of jumbos were originated in the first quarter, down 26.8 percent from the previous period. Jumbo production was also off 13.0 percent from the first three months of 2017. The decline in jumbo volume was greater than the slowdown in the overall mortgage ... [Includes one data chart]

Mortgage-backed security investors remain interested in non-qualified mortgages, though the hot market may be cooling off. A particularly large non-QM MBS from an affiliate of Western Asset Management Company was delayed in closing and downsized slightly as some firms suggest that returns in the market slipped in the first quarter. WAMC’s Arroyo Mortgage Trust 2018-1 was initially sized at $1.25 billion, according to presale reports published near the end of April by ...

California continues to account for the largest share of non-agency jumbo originations but it lost some market share in 2017, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Some $317.29 billion of jumbos were originated in 2017, down 9.7 percent from the previous year. The analysis is based on originations of first-lien, single-family mortgages, with loan-limits determined at the county level. Originations of ... [Includes one data chart]

Redwood Trust boosted its net income in the first quarter of 2018 and continued to increase its originations of expanded-credit mortgages. The real estate investment trust is seeing strong demand for the loans in the secondary market and Redwood is set to issue its largest expanded-credit mortgage-backed security to date. Redwood had $46.9 million in net income in the quarter, up 51.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017 and up 26.7 percent from a year ago. The company sold ...

The second prime non-agency mortgage-backed security from an affiliate of American International Group is a lot like the MBS the company issued in March, but the new deal received favorable treatment from the rating services, with lower credit enhancement on the senior tranche. PSMC 2018-2 Trust will be a $429.4 million issuance, according to presale reports published last week. The mortgages have an average credit score of 773, an average debt-to-income ratio of 33.0 percent ...

As soon as next week, the House could vote to approve a regulatory relief bill that already passed the Senate. Among numerous other provisions, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act would grant qualified mortgage status to certain loans held in portfolio by smaller banks even if the mortgages would otherwise be non-QMs. Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, also said ... [Includes four briefs]

Originations of non-agency jumbo mortgages declined in the first quarter of 2018 at a number of banks that provide early disclosures about their business. Officials cited seasonal factors for the lower volume and suggested that production will bounce back in the second quarter. First Republic Bank, the largest of the four banks in terms of jumbo production, had $2.33 billion in total originations in the first quarter. Jumbos tend to account for more than 90.0 percent of its total production ...

An affiliate of Western Asset Management Co. is set to issue one of the largest post-crisis non-agency mortgage-backed securities. The planned $1.25 billion issuance differs in a number of ways from deals with non-qualified mortgages from other issuers. Arroyo Mortgage Trust 2018-1 will be the first non-QM MBS from WAMC. The firm has been stockpiling non-QMs and other non-agency mortgages since the end of 2014. Loans in the pending MBS have seasoned for an average of ...