Originations of higher-priced conventional mortgages increased by 20.1 percent on an annual basis to $36.01 billion in 2017, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets of data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Higher-priced mortgages are loans that have an annual percentage rate higher than a threshold for the “average prime offer rate” on a comparable mortgage. First-lien mortgages with an APR ... [Includes two data charts]

In a recent comment letter submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Mortgage Bankers Association argued for changes to regulations in an effort to boost originations of non-agency mortgages. The trade group cited problems with Appendix Q of the ability-to-repay rule and called for the government-sponsored enterprise “patch” for qualified mortgages to be extended to jumbo mortgages. Appendix Q sets QM standards for non-agency mortgages that aren’t eligible for sale to the GSEs or government-insured

A provision involving community banks and qualified mortgages in recently enacted regulatory relief legislation could prompt community banks and nonbanks to loosen underwriting standards for non-agency mortgages, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Banks with less than $10.0 billion in assets can receive QM treatment for certain loans that would otherwise be non-QMs if the banks hold the mortgages in portfolio acording to the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and ...

Borrower complaints about nontraditional mortgage products from nonbanks in California decreased in 2017, according to the state’s Department of Business Oversight. The California DBO said nonbank lenders and servicers received 12,963 complaints about nontraditional mortgages, down 11.1 percent from 2016. However, officials at the DBO cautioned against making comparisons between data for 2016 and 2017 because the number of ... [Includes two briefs]

Holdings of first-lien residential mortgages by banks and thrifts increased in the first quarter of 2018, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Banks and thrifts held $2.025 trillion of first-lien home loans as of the end of the first quarter, up 0.5 percent from December 2017 and up 4.8 percent from March of last year. Trends varied somewhat among the 10 largest holders of first liens, with some posting large gains on an ... [Includes one data chart]

Credit Suisse issued a large prime non-agency mortgage-backed security this week with an unprecedented lack of disclosure: the single lender that provided loans for the deal wasn’t identified in presale reports. Fitch Ratings and Morningstar Credit Ratings placed AAA ratings on the $1.60 billion CSMC 2018-J1 Trust. It is the second largest post-crisis non-agency MBS backed by new originations. All of the loans in the deal were “acquired from a single originator in a bulk purchase ...

Several non-agency mortgage-backed securities closed before the end of the second quarter. A nonprime deal in the works from Verus Mortgage Capital could be issued early in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase closed two non-agency MBS in June: a $938.2 million issuance backed by loans from Chase and other originators and a $490.5 million deal backed by a variety of seasoned mortgages originated by First Republic Bank. Some 59.2 percent of the mortgages in the larger Chase deal ...

Originations of interest-only mortgages declined in the first quarter of 2018 among a group of prominent IO lenders, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The 15 lenders originated an estimated $4.17 billion of IOs in the first quarter of 2018, down 24.9 percent from the previous quarter and down 17.4 percent from the first quarter of 2017. The drop in IO production was worse than the decline in total originations ... [Includes one data chart]

Starwood Property Trust announced this week that it agreed to purchase up to $600.0 million of non-qualified mortgages originated by Impac Mortgage Holdings in the next 12 months. The real estate investment trust also revealed that it has already acquired $900.0 million of non-QMs from Impac. “We are excited to formalize our partnership with Impac, which we believe will help scale our opportunity to provide non-QM loans to high-quality borrowers while sourcing ...

Originations of adjustable-rate mortgages declined in the first quarter of 2018 from the previous period, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. ARM production slowed even with a rise in interest rates, and the products don’t appear to be popular with borrowers seeking purchase mortgages. An estimated $44.0 billion of ARMs were originated in the first three months of the year, down 20.0 percent from the fourth ... [Includes one data chart]