Issuance of non-mortgage ABS increased by 25.5 percent from the second quarter of 2016 to the third, thanks to significant increases in several asset categories, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking. The market produced $54.05 billion of non-mortgage ABS during the third quarter, the highest output since the second quarter of last year. Despite the gain, year-to-date issuance remained 1.9 percent below the level notched in the first nine months of 2015. A lot of the increase came...[Includes two data tables]

Ginnie Mae has announced a policy change to ease investor concern over recent streamlined refinancing trends involving a small number of mortgage loans in Ginnie pools. The policy change addresses the issue of premature streamline refinancing of certain loans in Ginnie Mae I single-issuer pools that threatens to deflate investors’ expectation of a full 100-percent return on their MBS investments. “Investor participation … depends...

Mortgage industry representatives are calling upon the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to do more to facilitate the correction of errors made under the enhanced disclosure regime of the agency’s integrated disclosure rule, to reduce or eliminate disruptions in the secondary market as well as boost access to credit. The pleas were made in conjunction with the industry’s broader response to the CFPB’s proposed clarifying rulemaking related to its so-called TRID rule, issued under the authority of the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. In a comment letter sent this week to the bureau, the Consumer Mortgage Coalition urged...

The average daily trading volume of agency MBS hit $223.2 billion in September, the strongest reading of the year and a sign that liquidity in the market has improved. According to figures compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, daily trading volume increased by 17.7 percent compared to the same month a year ago. But the year-to-date averages are much closer: $206.6 billion for 2016 compared to $199.9 billion last year. In the agency space there is...

In a class-action ruling that could have implications for legacy MBS lawsuits, a federal appeals court confirmed a recent U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision on standing and statutory damages. Ruling in Nicklaw v. CitiMortgage earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that to establish standing in order to bring a lawsuit alleging only a statutory violation, a plaintiff must allege a concrete harm or injury resulting from the violation. Relying on the alleged statutory violation alone would only result in a dismissal, the court warned. The 11th Circuit decision is...

Last week’s closely-watched appeals court ruling in the wrangling between PHH Mortgage and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over Section 8 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act is being widely viewed by many as a clipping of the agency’s wings.

Industry participants looking to originate non-qualified mortgages or acquire the loans continue to insist that the relatively low volume of such loans is due to a lack of effort from lenders. “It’s not that the non-QM space is competing for borrowers that are getting loans elsewhere, it’s that the non-QM space is competing for origination capacity at existing originators,” said Matt Nichols, CEO of Deephaven Mortgage. Many have placed...

Jumbo mortgages accounted for 18.3 percent of total first-lien originations in 2015, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data recently released by federal regulators. That was virtually unchanged from the 18.1 percent share that jumbo loans held in the 2014 HMDA data. The analyses match conventional loan amounts and county information about the secured property to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac conforming loan limits, including adjustments for high-cost markets, in effect at the time. Purchase mortgages accounted...[Includes two data tables]

The underlying theme of portfolio lending is the ability to use compensating factors in underwriting a mortgage, said analysts at MIAC Analytics in a recent web posting. Portfolio lenders, many of them community bankers, have figured out to how to find profitable opportunities in the mortgage niches that don’t work in the agency market, MIAC said. Often, these are consumers who were left out of the housing recovery because of the sharp decline in capital available in the non-agency market, they added. Typically, they don’t...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development called on its inspector general to reassess estimated financial losses to the FHA insurance fund, which an IG audit attributed to lengthy delays of servicer foreclosures and property conveyances. A recent audit report by the HUD inspector general alleges that HUD paid approximately $2.23 billion in claims for an estimated 239,000 properties that missed foreclosure and conveyance deadlines. According to the IG report, HUD paid an estimated $141.9 million for servicers’ claims for “unreasonable and unnecessary” debenture interest on the distressed loans, as well as $2.09 billion in servicer claims for holding the properties past their foreclosure and conveyance deadlines. While it was necessary for servicers to pay for property-preservation costs, HUD should not have paid for holding costs, the ...