The first jumbo mortgage-backed security from a subsidiary of Hatteras Financial received relatively strong reviews from rating services. The $231.18 million Onslow Bay Mortgage Loan Trust 2015-1 received AAA ratings with credit enhancement of 8.55 percent on the senior tranche. DBRS and Standard & Poor’s said that while they find Onslow Bay to be an acceptable aggregator, they increased the required credit enhancement on the MBS somewhat due to Hatteras’ lack of experience ...

Originations of adjustable-rate mortgages have not kept pace with overall mortgage production this year, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. An estimated $152 billion in ARMs were originated through the first three quarters of 2015, down 10.1 percent from the same period last year. In that span, total first-lien production has increased by 42.9 percent, according to estimates by affiliated publication Inside Mortgage Finance ... [Includes one data chart]

Less than 1.0 percent of the dollar volume of jumbo mortgages originated in 2014 would have been eligible for sale to the government-sponsored enterprises based on higher GSE loan limits that are set to take effect next year in nine metro markets, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The Federal Housing Finance Agency recently announced that high-cost loan limits will increase in 39 counties next year, with limits ...

The highway funding bill signed into law last week included a provision that expanded exemptions to standards for qualified mortgages. QMs generally cannot have balloon-payment features, though some small lenders in rural areas have been allowed to originate balloon mortgages that can be classified as QMs. Previously, the QM balloon exemption applied to small lenders that operate predominantly in rural or underserved areas. H.R. 22, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act ...

Compliance issues involving disclosure requirements that took effect in October could be delaying the issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities, according to a report this week from Moody’s Investors Service. The rating service said several third-party review firms found compliance violations on more than 90 percent of a sample of 300 mortgages reviewed for compliance with the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule. Many of the TRID violations were ... [Includes three briefs]

Some investors won’t return to the non-agency MBS market until the federal government establishes minimum standards for issuers, according to Chris Katopis, executive director of the Association of Mortgage Investors. Speaking at the RMBS 3.0 symposium produced by Information Management Network and the Structured Finance Industry Group this month in New York, Katopis said investors are frustrated with the lack of action from the government to help the non-agency MBS market. “We know there’s a lot of work going on, but at some point the government has to set minimum standards,” he said.Katopis said investors are happy that SFIG is working on a new representation-and-warranty framework for non-agency MBS. However, the AMI is skeptical of voluntary industry standards. “Having ...

Originations of jumbo mortgages declined in the third quarter of 2015 compared with the previous quarter, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. A number of lenders continue to loosen underwriting standards and offer favorable pricing in an effort to originate jumbos. An estimated $85.0 billion in jumbo mortgages were originated in the third quarter. While production fell 8.6 percent on a quarterly basis, originations through ... [Includes one data chart]

The Structured Finance Industry Group and the Treasury Department continue to work on complementary initiatives to revive the non-agency mortgage-backed security market. SFIG’s upcoming plans include a push for transparency among issuers, while the Treasury has shifted its focus somewhat away from a benchmark non-agency MBS transaction. Eric Kaplan, a managing director at Shellpoint Partners and one of the leaders of SFIG’s RMBS 3.0 effort, said SFIG is ...

The latest developments in the Structured Finance Industry Group’s effort to revive the non-agency MBS market have been met with praise from many industry participants. However, larger issues continue to constrain activity in the market. SFIG recently released a package of model representations and warranties for non-agency MBS. “I think this effort to standardize reps and warrants is a really important step in helping investors get more comfortable with the sector,” Grant Bailey ...

First-lien portfolio holdings continued to increase in the third quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of bank and thrift call reports. Banks and thrifts held $1.85 trillion in first-lien mortgages in portfolio at the end of September, up 0.3 percent compared with the end of the second quarter and a 2.8 percent increase compared with the third quarter of 2014. Wells Fargo had the largest portfolio at $266.3 billion as of ... [Includes one data chart]