Investor demand for non-agency mortgage-backed securities with non-qualified mortgages appears to have been boosted by the performance of such deals issued in recent years. There have been some delinquencies – owing to somewhat loose underwriting standards – but investors have largely been protected from losses. DBRS recently analyzed 18 non-QM MBS issued since 2015 and found that only three deals had experienced losses as of September. A $150.4 million deal from ...

Citadel Servicing has increased its portfolio of nonprime mortgages in the past year and has taken steps to improve operations, according to Fitch Ratings. Citadel serviced mortgages with an unpaid principal balance of $1.1 billion as of the end of November, up from a $673.1 million portfolio as of the end of 2016. Some 1.8 percent of Citadel’s portfolio was 30 or more days delinquent as of November, according to Fitch. A significant portion of the portfolio was originated after ...

According to an analysis by Zillow, 11.2 percent of the 25.1 million homes that are currently worth enough to require a jumbo mortgage will fall under the conforming loan limit in 2018 due to higher loan limits established by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The analysis was based on county-specific home prices and the assumption that jumbos allow a loan-to-value ratio no higher than ... [Includes two briefs]

Redwood Trust is looking to expand its footprint into funding originations by nonbanks as well as putting a greater emphasis on acquiring investment-property mortgages. The strategy announced this week was detailed one day after Redwood revealed that its CEO will retire in May. Officials said changes in the housing market have created opportunities for the real estate investment trust to “leverage our competitive strengths and expand our strategic mission.” They said funding ...

Regulatory reform legislation with limited bipartisan support is making its way through the Senate, and a change in leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could provide further relief for the industry. This week, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs approved a regulatory reform bill on a 16-7 vote. S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, would make adjustments to the standards for qualified mortgages ...

Housing-finance reform legislation in Congress will likely include a government guarantee for mortgage securities backed by conventional home loans after a concession this week by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX. The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee has long pushed to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, removing the government guarantee associated with the government-sponsored enterprises. “I continue to believe that a government guarantee in ...

Originations of jumbo mortgages increased in the third quarter of 2017 compared with the previous period, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. But through nine months of the year, production was down compared with 2016 and the sector is losing market share as a handful of major lenders are seeing significant declines in their jumbo production. Demand for jumbo mortgages has declined somewhat, according to lenders ... [Includes one data chart]

Starwood Property Trust plans to issue a non-agency mortgage-backed security with non-qualified mortgages in the first quarter of 2018, according to officials at the real estate investment trust. Starwood only recently started acquiring non-QMs, with help from Federal Home Loan Bank advances. Officials said the company acquired $128.0 million of non-agency mortgages in the third quarter, bringing the REIT’s portfolio of such loans to $419.0 million. Jeffrey DiModica, Starwood’s ...

A new, somewhat atypical, non-agency mortgage-backed security from JPMorgan Chase includes a large share of non-qualified mortgages and no fixed-rate mortgages. JPMorgan Mortgage Trust 2017-5 is a $671.7 million deal that received preliminary AAA ratings last week from Fitch Ratings, Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Moody’s Investors Service. The first four deals from Chase this year largely stuck with QMs and included a fair amount of mortgages eligible for sale to the ...

Originations of so-called expanded-credit mortgages among a group of 15 lenders were essentially level in the third quarter of 2017 compared with the previous quarter, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The lenders had a total of $10.61 billion of expanded-credit volume in the third quarter, up 1.7 percent from the previous quarter. Expanded-credit loans include non-qualified mortgages, nonprime mortgages ... [Includes one data chart]