Rate-term refis helped to drive up residential MBS issuance in the fourth quarter.

Nick Bhargava, co-founder and executive vice president of regulatory affairs at Groundfloor Financing, said the current lack of affordable housing inventory has caused real estate investors to look to fix and flip more properties.

KBRA said 24 of its rated RMBS transactions have more than 5% exposure to properties located in the counties affected by the LA fires.

The top-five Ginnie MBS issuers in 2024: Freedom, PennyMac, UWM, Rocket and Newrez. All are nonbanks.

Deliveries of rate-term refinances into agency MBS declined by almost 40% on a monthly basis in December.

The maximum principal balance of the transaction, known as Series 2024-VF2, is $1 billion and the aggregate committed amount is $500 million.

If Congress takes up GSE reform, Mark Calabria, who served as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency during the first Trump administration, has some suggestions.

The nomination hearing for Scott Turner to lead HUD is scheduled for Jan. 16.

If the GSEs comply with the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s existing capital rule, maintain strong risk-adjusted earnings and uphold a dominant market presence, a stand-alone rating in the A category could be possible for the firms.

The big gains came in high-LTV refinances, which surged to 13.6% of the sample, a 7.05 percentage point increase.