The average daily trading volume in agency MBS hit a yearly high of $224.4 billion in October, according to figures compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. With liquidity improving, the year-to-date average now stands at $206.6 billion, compared to $198.7 billion in 2015. The November reading should be out by the end of next week. Investors might be...

Securitization of residential and commercial loans with Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) assessments has been growing over the last few years despite having only a few market players, prompting analysts to predict continued growth for the PACE securities market. Residential PACE financing has increased to $2.9 billion with 130,000 home upgrades since 2010, according to second quarter 2016 data from industry group PACE Nation. Commercial PACE financing, meanwhile, has grown to $304 million with 820 commercial projects over the same period. Three programs accounted...

Will the GSE-investing PE firms blow it?

Since the November election, mortgage rates have spiked roughly 75 basis points, promising to snuff out the refinancing market and possibly leading to a spate of industry layoffs. But so far, it appears that many firms are keeping their cost-cutting powder dry. “Application volume has been pretty much the same,” said Paul Rozo, CEO of nonbank originator Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, Corona, CA. “I think it’s too early in the game to be thinking about layoffs.” Marc Savitt, a principal in The Mortgage Center, a small West Virginia-based brokerage firm, said...

Mortgage lenders and other employers that have made or are preparing to implement changes to comply with the Department of Labor’s revised overtime pay regulations may have to reevaluate whether to hold off or go forward with those plans, according to wage and overtime experts. On Nov. 22, Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas granted a request by several states to block the new overtime pay rules that would have gone into effect on Dec. 1. The judge issued a preliminary injunction after determining that the DOL did not have the authority to decide whether workers should be paid overtime based on their salary level alone. Mazzant agreed...

One notable change in the market over the past three years has been the gradual increase in cash-out refi lending.

More lenders are making “bank statement” loans these days, including both banks and nondepositories…

Based on current trading values, Fannie common now has a market capitalization rate (share price multiplied by number of shares) of $28.01 billion. Freddie common is valued at $15.14 billion.

Some banks have reclassified mortgage loan officer duties as a way to avoid paying overtime, IMFnews was told.

All three buildings hit the market in October 2015. According to records from the District of Columbia’s Office of Tax and Revenue, the parcels were once valued at almost $200 million.