Banks continue to dominate home equity lending, but some nonbanks have made big moves, including Rocket Mortgage.

Refis accounted for 55.7% of mortgage applications last week.

The revamped rules allowed lenders to use a wider variety of standards to meet ATR and qualified-mortgage requirements while also introducing some uncertainty on whether specific loans comply with ATR standards.

Annual readings for home price appreciation are close to falling below the increase in conforming loan limits some lenders have offered for 2025.

It’s the 14th expanded-credit MBS from Annaly this year, amounting to $7.57 billion in volume.

A&D Mortgage has partnered with Atlas Merchant Capital to fund more expanded-credit MBS transactions.

Khalil Kanaan, head of residential mortgage at LibreMax, an asset manager that has invested in home equity investments, said the products offer unlevered returns in the low double digits.

Loan applications are increasing as mortgage interest rates decline.

Growth in first-lien holdings occurred outside of the top three banks, which all shrank their portfolios in the second quarter.

The new HEI securitization has borrowers with slightly better average credit scores compared to an issuance in April.