Originations of interest-only mortgages declined for many of the major players in the sector in 2017, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The declines were well beyond the slowdown in the overall volume of originations seen during the year. Among the top 15 IO lenders, six had lower production volume in 2017, with annual declines ranging from 6.7 percent to 61.1 percent. According to estimates by ... [Includes one data chart]

Impac Mortgage Holdings will continue to focus on originating non-qualified mortgages after a change in leadership at the nonbank. Joseph Tomkinson, the longtime chairman and CEO of Impac, is scheduled to step down in July, with George Mangiaracina taking over as CEO. Mangiaracina has been an executive vice president and managing director at Impac since early 2015. Since then, Impac has boosted its non-QM production while focusing on refinances of conforming mortgages ...

The Senate last week approved a regulatory relief bill that would grant qualified mortgage status to certain loans held in portfolio by smaller banks even if the mortgages would otherwise be non-QMs. The portfolio QM provision also has support in the House, but it has prompted concerns from some industry analysts. Moody’s Investors Service noted that if the provision becomes law, small banks won’t have to meet certain documentation requirements included in the Consumer ...

Angel Oak Prime Bridge, a lender offering short-term financing for house flippers, hopes to increase originations this year by more than five times the volume it produced in 2017. AOPB had more than $130.0 million in originations in 2017, according to Robert Malcahy, a senior vice president at the lender. He said the originations were focused in the Southeast. “In 2018, we have an expanded footprint and product offering targeted volume over $700.0 million,” Malcahy said ...

JPMorgan Chase is set to issue another non-agency mortgage-backed security mixing jumbo mortgages and loans eligible for sale to the government-sponsored enterprises. DBRS, Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings assigned preliminary AAA ratings to the planned $866.07 million JPMorgan Mortgage Trust 2018-3 this week. Some 1,348 loans will be included in the issuance, divided nearly evenly between jumbo mortgages and loans eligible for sale to the government-sponsored ...

Angel Oak Capital Advisors is preparing to issue its first non-agency mortgage-backed security of the year backed by non-qualified mortgages, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tiptree has an agreement to sell jumbo lender Luxury Mortgage in the second half of this year. The buyer and purchase price weren’t disclosed. Citadel Servicing recently loosened underwriting standards on a number of its nonprime ... [Includes four briefs]

Banks and thrifts increased their first-lien holdings by 4.1 percent in 2017, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Big banks continue to retain jumbo mortgages in portfolio along with some loans eligible for sale to the government-sponsored enterprises. A total of $2.01 trillion in first-lien mortgages were held by banks and thrifts as of the end of 2017, up 1.2 percent from the end of September. Adjustable-rate mortgages ... [Includes one data chart]

Issuance of non-agency mortgage-backed securities backed by non-qualified mortgages could triple this year, according to Jeremy Schneider, a senior director at S&P Global Ratings. According to Inside Nonconforming Markets, $4.08 billion of expanded credit non-agency MBS was issued in 2017, with non-QMs accounting for a large share of the issuance. Schneider and other industry participants discussed non-QMs at the SFIG Vegas conference produced by Information ...

Issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities flourished at the start of the year, prompting projections that volume could double compared with 2017, but the market isn’t expected to grow to anywhere near pre-crisis levels. Baron Silverstein, a managing director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said he expects to see more issuers enter the maket and that issuance could hit $20.0 billion this year. He was speaking at the SFIG Vegas conference produced by Information Management Network and ...

Ocwen Financial plans to resume growing its servicing and originations business by acquiring PHH. The transaction is scheduled to close in the second half of this year. Ocwen plans to acquire PHH with $360.0 million in cash and assume $119.0 million of outstanding corporate debt. According to Ocwen, there will be enough cash on PHH’s balance sheet to fund $260.0 million of the $360.0 million purchase price. Both companies have been struggling ... [Includes one data chart]