Shellpoint Partners issued its first non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security this week, which differs in a number of ways from non-agency MBS issued since 2010. The deal is an attempt to loosen – slightly – non-agency MBS underwriting standards, although the rating services were critical of the originator, New Penn Financial. Shellpoint Asset Funding Trust 2013-1 was initially planned as a $261.58 million non-agency MBS, according to presale reports issued last week. The deal was reportedly restructured ...

The preferences of investors and the rating services play a significant role in the characteristics of mortgages included in non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities, according to industry participants. “The rating agencies are a first part of the analysis, but investors in these bonds are paying very careful attention to these loan characteristics, to credit exceptions and to who the lenders are,” Peter Sack, a managing director at Credit Suisse, said this week at a webinar ...

When interest rates rise rapidly – as they have the past two weeks – lenders suffer. But it appears the few dozen or so hard-money and subprime lenders operating quietly in the trenches are doing just fine and are even seeing an increase in loan requests. Mark Mozilo, a principal in CALCAP Advisors, told Inside Nonconforming Markets that his hard-money firm will fund 40 loans in the second quarter of 2013, its highest quarterly volume to date. The company is just a few years old. Mozilo added that ...

Lenders that originate home loans to hold in portfolio are concerned about the regulatory consequences of originating non-qualified mortgages. While some have asked for a blanket exemption from liability for non-QMs held in portfolio, Democrats in Congress appear unlikely to approve such changes. “Congress should amend the ability-to-repay statute to grant QM status to all mortgage loans held in portfolio by community banks,” Charles Vice, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of ...

New single-family MBS issuance accounted for a record 90.1 percent of home loan originations during the first quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. An estimated $500.0 billion of new home mortgages were originated during the first three months of the year, down 4.8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012, as refinance activity began to weaken. But mortgage securitization activity declined at a slower pace, falling just 0.6 percent in the first quarter. That pushed...[Includes one data chart]

The recent market tumult caused by suggestions that the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program (QE3) may soon be tapering off is likely over, and price adjustments may have created good buying opportunities in the non-agency MBS sector, according to analysts. With less than $1 trillion in MBS still outstanding in the market, and very few higher-yield investment options around, non-agency MBS remains a good investment choice, said Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts Chris Flanagan, Ryan Asato and Justin Borst. In their latest market analysis, the BAML researchers said...

Officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claim that lenders will originate home loans that don’t meet the new qualified mortgage standard, though industry participants have been skeptical due to the liability involved with such loans. Raj Date, the former deputy director of the CFPB, announced last week that his new firm will indeed originate non-QMs, with an initial focus on non-agency jumbo mortgages. “It’s an example of a great market opportunity where we can ...

Bank and thrift holdings of mortgages were higher in the first quarter of 2013 compared to a year ago, driven by originations of nonconforming loans. While two banks have started to securitize jumbo mortgages, the vast majority of jumbo originations remain in portfolio. Bank holdings of first-lien mortgages hit $1.78 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2013, up 2.2 percent from the first quarter of 2012, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets ... [Includes one data chart]

Redwood Trust’s latest non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security, its eighth of the year, consisted of originations from 67 lenders. No lender accounts for more than 6.4 percent of the originations in the $460.16 million deal. The non-agency jumbo MBS issued this week received AAA ratings with credit enhancement of 7.10 percent on the top-rated tranche. The top contributors to the deal were George Mason Mortgage, Cole Taylor Mortgage, W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital and PrimeLending, each accounting for ...

Lenders’ contributions to non-agency mortgage-backed securities could continue to be subjected to high levels of scrutiny as the rating services emphasize upfront due diligence. Standard & Poor’s recently cautioned investors in non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities from putting too much faith into the representations and warranties provided on new securities. “The fact remains that we believe loan and borrower quality are the most important factors for evaluating residential MBS ...