Strong returns post-2008 have led investors to increasingly consider non-qualified mortgage loans for their portfolios.

Investor demand for non-QMs is outpacing originator production, according to industry experts who spoke last week at the California MBA western secondary market conference.

AOMR recently issued $50 million of senior unsecured notes to help replenish its stock of non-QM loans for securitization.

The real estate mortgage trust is ramping up its acquisitions of residential transition loans in hopes of building a steady pipeline of rated RTL MBS deals in the coming quarters.

The first non-QM MBS issued by Ellington Financial in more than 14 months helped boost earnings in the second quarter.

The real estate investment trust increased its profits in the second quarter with help from new non-agency securitizations.

The sale of agency-eligible loans into non-agency MBS helped AG Mortgage stay in the black heading into the third quarter.

While profits at the business-purpose lender declined in the second quarter, executives at the nonbank are optimistic about growth.

Sticky inflation and an expectation for future rate cuts caused the REIT to decrease its non-agency loan holdings in the second quarter.

Redwood Trust’s profits declined from the first to the second quarter, while loan locks and funding reached new highs.