Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities issuance fell in the first quarter of 2015 with FHA volume slipping during the period, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending’s analysis of agency data.

Carrington Mortgage Services announced on Tuesday that it will offer the FHA 203k Full loan program through its national wholesale lending division, which should be especially attractive for first-time homebuyers purchasing a “fixer-upper.”

Moreover, it is unclear how much enforcement power Edward Golding can wield.

However, the late January 50 basis point reduction in FHA premiums should help.

The unusual appointment of a senior advisor to replace Acting FHA Commissioner and Assistant Secretary of Housing Biniam Gebre is causing Republicans to sit up and take notice. Last week, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro tapped Edward Golding to head the FHA, not in an acting capacity, but as a “principal deputy assistant secretary.” The new title grants Golding broad powers to manage the FHA’s daily operations but does not come with the full authority of an FHA commissioner. For example, Golding is restricted from issuing final rules or notices of funding availability. He may not endorse mortgages for insurance that exceed $50 million, such as loans for hospitals and other multifamily structures. Moreover, it is unclear how much enforcement power Golding can wield. More interestingly, however, the process that facilitated Golding’s appointment allows ...

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae securitized $151.1 billion of refi loans during the first quarter, a 34.8 percent increase from the end of 2014.

At least three years have passed since Bank of America stopped selling new purchase-money loans into Fannie Mae securities, a drought that has benefitted at least one party: Freddie Mac. According to new figures compiled by Inside MBS & ABS, in the first quarter of 2015 BofA sold $9.57 billion of mortgages into Freddie securities, beating out Wells Fargo ($8.194 billion), which traditionally has ranked first in sales to both government-sponsored enterprises. Then again, there is...

Some MBS investors and industry analysts were taken aback when the latest prepayment rates on the government-sponsored enterprises’ risk-transfer deals were reported last week. The spike in prepayments was due to low interest rates in January, with the risk-sharing deals more susceptible to prepayments than agency MBS overall due to the collateral included in them. Prepayment rates were particularly high on Freddie Mac Structured Agency Credit Risk transactions. Analysts at Barclays Capital said M1 tranches on STACR 2014-DN3 and STACR 2014-HQ1 experienced large pay-downs in March due to “seemingly high” prepayments. STACR 2014-DN3 M1 paid down by 18.0 percent in March and STACR 2014-HQ1 M1 paid down by 8.4 percent. “While the jump in prepayment speeds could be expected after the rates rally earlier this year, the magnitude of the jump may seem...

FirstKey Lending and B2R Finance are vying to be the first issuer of a multi-borrower single-family rental securitization. The activity follows 16 single-borrower single-family rental transactions that have been issued since November 2013. The first presale report on a multi-borrower single-family rental transaction was published March 31 by Kroll Bond Rating Agency. The $240.79 million FirstKey Lending 2015-SFR1 is set to receive a AAA rating with credit enhancement of 37.75 percent on the senior tranche, according to the rating service. FirstKey is owned by affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management. On April 1, Fitch Ratings published...

Limited refinancing opportunities for borrowers already at the lowest end of the interest rate spectrum continue to drive down voluntary prepayments on re-performing loans, according to a report by Moody’s Investors Service. “We estimate that only 15 percent of all re-performing subprime loans and 12 percent of all re-performing Alt A loans could have potential refinancing options,” said Moody’s. The borrowers received...