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 ...

Fannie Mae adjusted its automated underwriting services last summer to make more loans with higher debt-to-income ratios eligible for approval without lenders needing to provide compensating factors.

Housing-finance reform appears to be in the process of a slow death for 2018 partly because of the pending departure of key players.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported this week that the GSEs completed 67,569 foreclosure prevention actions in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Overall production of government-insured loans fell in all three origination channels in the fourth quarter as refinancing continued to decline in 2017. A survey of FHA, VA and rural housing lenders showed originations in retail, correspondent and broker conduits totaled $248.9 billion, down 11.8 percent from 2016. Correspondent production suffered the biggest quarterly decline, 14.9 percent from the third to the fourth quarter. Production in this channel also declined 4.8 percent for the full year. Approximately $139.3 billion of FHA and VA loans came through this channel last year. Notwithstanding the decline, the correspondent share of government-insured lending grew to 56.0 percent in 2017, up from 51.9 percent in 2016. Brokers saw their share of the government-insured market rise to 10.0 percent, even as quarterly and year-over-year originations declined by 2.0 percent and 10.7 percent ,,, [ Charts ]

Freddie Mac announced its first non-performing loan sale of the year this week.

Former World Acceptance Corp. CEO Janet Lewis Matricciani wants to apply for the position of CFPB director .

GSE buyback volume fell 11.6 percent from the 2016 total, including an 11.4 percent drop from the third to the fourth quarter of last year.

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 enterprises.

The 4,710 small mortgage lenders wouldn’t have to report new data points sought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for originations in 2018 and beyond, according to an analysis by Inside the CFPB.