Bank and thrift holdings of first-lien mortgages increased by 3.6 percent in the third quarter of 2012 compared with the third quarter of 2011, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The growth, outpacing portfolio runoff and an overall decline in mortgage debt outstanding, is tied to non-agency mortgages as well as agency-eligible loans being retained by banks. Industry participants are divided on whether the first-lien holdings will ... [Includes one data chart]

The guaranty fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are close to hitting a tipping point where non-agency mortgage-backed security issuance will be the more economic execution for new originations, according to some non-agency participants. “If the non-agency pricing is improving and the GSE pricing is worsening, at some point you’re going to hit a tipping point,” Luke Scolastico, a vice president at Credit Suisse, said last week at a panel discussion hosted by the American Securitization Forum ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, under directions from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, are close to issuing risk-sharing transactions, according to market participants. The securities will be structured to allow non-agency investors to take subordinate risk on government-sponsored enterprise mortgage-backed securities and will likely help set GSE guaranty fees going forward. Martin Hughes, CEO of Redwood Trust, said his company is currently under a non-disclosure agreement regarding risk-sharing ...

At least two nonprime industry veterans are out in the market actively trying to raise funds to start lending operations, according to interviews conducted by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Whether they will be successful is another matter. Jon Daurio, a founder and former top executive at the now defunct Encore Capital, is trying to raise $250 million and hopes to have much of the work tied to his capital raise completed by the end of the first quarter of 2013. Daurio has been working on raising money ...

Originations of non-agency jumbo mortgages through three quarters in 2012 increased by 23.3 percent compared with the same period in 2011. While 12 non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities have been issued this year, jumbo originations are largely being held in portfolio by banks competing for high-quality borrowers. An estimated $148.0 billion in non-agency jumbos were originated through the first nine months of 2012, including an estimated $52.0 billion in ... [Includes one data chart]

A subsidiary of Credit Suisse Group last week issued a non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security, its third of the year and the first that did not include mortgages from the shuttered MetLife. The loans were acquired on a flow basis by DLJ Mortgage Capital, a Credit Suisse affiliate. CSMC Trust 2012-CIM3 is backed by $329.89 million of jumbo loans originated by 15 lenders, including Quicken Loans (35.2 percent), PHH Mortgage (19.7 percent) and First Savings Mortgage (16.8 percent). The average ...

Redwood Trust could issue a seventh non-agency mortgage-backed security before the end of this year, according to officials at the real estate investment trust, and the company is ramping up to hit a pace of a new MBS every month. “In terms of the residential business, generally I would say the stars are aligning,” Martin Hughes, CEO of Redwood, said last week during a presentation to investors. He noted increased guaranty fees for the government-sponsored enterprises, a decrease in conforming loan limits ...

Participants in the non-agency mortgage-backed security market are largely opposed to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposal to create a platform to issue standardized non-agency MBS. While the FHFA suggested that the platform could revive the non-agency market, industry participants suggest that many issues besides a platform are hindering non-agency MBS issuance. “Key elements of the platform that are advantages for government-sponsored enterprise securitizations, such as standardization ...

Nonprime mortgages and mortgage-backed securities caused a significant portion of the losses suffered by the government-sponsored enterprises since 2008. However, the nonprime assets that the GSEs have held on to have seen lower credit losses and even profits recently due to improving home prices and investor demand for vintage MBS. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have allowed their non-prime exposure to run off since 2008, rather than selling the assets. As of the end of the third quarter of 2012 ... [Includes one data chart]

Institutional investors are creating a rental market out of real estate owned properties without a mortgage-backed security structure in place, though industry participants anticipate that a REO rental securitization market will eventually develop. Some $8.0 billion has been raised by institutional investors to purchase REOs and rent them, according to Oliver Chang, founder and managing director of Sylvan Road Capital, which itself expects to invest $1.0 billion in the market in the next two years ...