The FHA will provide lenders that originate Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans the option to view and print unsigned HECM counseling certificates in FHA Connection starting Sept. 18, 2017. While the lender may still take the initial loan application, the lender can only begin to process it once the counseling is complete, as evidenced by a completed HECM counseling certificate that contains signatures of both the counselor and borrower. Lenders that chose to use this option will be required to establish procedures to obtain and document authorization from the HECM borrower to access the counseling certificate in FHA Connection. In addition, lenders must certify that a borrower authorization to view the counseling certificate was obtained. Lenders must follow the guidance on processing HECM loans contained in the HUD Handbook, the FHA said. To access HECM counseling certificates, lenders will ...

Deliveries of conforming-jumbo loans into mortgage-backed securities slowed during the second quarter of 2017, despite the solid increase in originations of non-agency jumbo loans, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. During the second quarter, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae securitized $27.62 billion of single-unit mortgages that had loan amounts exceeding the $424,100 conforming loan limit. That was down 4.6 percent from the first three months of the year, a smaller drop than the 6.9 percent decline in total Fannie, Freddie, FHA and VA activity. But the non-agency jumbo market saw...[Includes three data tables]

Redwood Trust has seen strong demand from borrowers and correspondent lenders for its “expanded prime” program that the aggregator introduced last year. The real estate investment trust’s Choice products allow for somewhat looser underwriting than the super-prime mortgages that have dominated the jumbo market after the financial crisis. The Choice program was introduced in April 2016. Volume has increased relatively quickly and could top $1.0 billion this year. Officials say...

Redwood Trust worked for years to revive the jumbo MBS market by issuing deals with super-prime mortgages. Now, the firm is shifting its focus somewhat to “expanded prime” mortgages that have slightly looser underwriting standards. The $316.49 million Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2017-CH-1 is the first MBS from Redwood to deviate from super-prime standards. The deal received preliminary AAA ratings this week from Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Moody’s Investors Service. The average combined loan-to-value ratio of the mortgages in the MBS is...

The volume of jumbo mortgages handled by the top servicers continued to increase in the second quarter of 2017, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. A group of 30 companies serviced an estimated $957.50 billion of jumbos at the end of June, up 2.3 percent from the previous quarter and up 8.7 percent from the second quarter of 2016. The servicers outpaced...[Includes one data table]

Delinquencies on non-qualified mortgages have been minimal and many borrowers with the loans seek to refinance relatively quickly, according to an analysis by Wells Fargo Securities. Among non-QMs with at least two years of seasoning that were included in nonprime mortgage-backed securities, more than 97 percent haven’t missed a payment, according to Wells. “Borrower credit performance has been robust so far, with delinquency rates and losses still subdued,” the analysts said. As of the end of July, only one non-QM in a nonprime MBS has gone...

New nonprime originations haven’t been enough to prop up the volume of subprime mortgages outstanding, according to a new ranking by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The top 15 subprime servicers handled an estimated $212.73 billion of the loans as of the end of the second quarter of 2017, down 4.1 percent from the previous quarter and down 18.2 percent from a year ago. None of the servicers posted...[Includes one data table]

The government-sponsored enterprises’ holdings of vintage nonprime mortgages declined somewhat more quickly than usual in the second quarter of 2017, according to an analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac held a combined $123.73 billion of nonprime purchased/guaranteed mortgages and mortgage-backed securities at the end of June, down 7.6 percent from March. Compared with June 2016, their holdings were down by 23.2 percent. The GSEs’ nonprime holdings are...[Includes one data table]

Redwood Trust is preparing to issue its first non-agency mortgage-backed security backed by “expanded prime” mortgages. In the second quarter, Redwood acquired approximately $240.0 million of such mortgages, which have somewhat looser underwriting standards than what’s typically seen in the jumbo MBS market. Clayton Holdings reviewed 417 mortgages for the planned issuance, according to documents filed Aug. 30 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The total unpaid principal balance of the loans wasn’t disclosed. The deal will include...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development this week announced changes to the FHA-insured reverse mortgage program, including a 200 basis point adjustment in the upfront mortgage insurance premium that may shut out some potential borrowers. HUD officials acknowledged during a press call that changes in both the upfront MIP and the HECM principal limit factors could reduce the number of borrowers initially by as much as 20 percent. Officials estimated that there are approximately 24 million seniors with untapped equity in their homes. “Overall, it is still a very large potential market,” said one official who spoke on background. “In the last few years, we did about 45,000 to 50,000 reverse mortgages annually. The net effect of all these changes is a better and safe HECM program for seniors. We’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out.” The revisions would help stabilize the ...