The DOJ continues to investigate issues involving a non-QM program Sterling Bank & Trust ended in 2019. Fallout from the program continues to cut into the bank’s profitability.

Most of the non-agency MBS on offer within the past two weeks was stocked with mortgages for investment properties.

HomeXpress preps its first non-agency MBS; A&D loosens non-QM guidelines; bridge loan partnership; FoA revises second-lien reverse mortgage product.

Investment-property loans gained share in expanded-credit MBS issuance and many of the typical contributors to deals were absent in the fourth quarter. (Includes three data charts.)

Changes are under consideration for determining which firms qualify as community development financial institutions. Under a current proposal, CDFIs would have to follow the CFPB’s ability-to-repay underwriting requirements.

Six expanded-credit MBS started marketing within the past two weeks and there are also offerings of prime jumbos, HELOCs and even a credit-risk transfer deal from Santander Bank.

With potential first-time homebuyers facing affordability issues, some homes that would have been flipped are now being offered for rent, shifting financing strategies for borrowers.

There’s a new program focused solely on a borrower’s business bank statement and a second-lien offering where non-QM borrowers can take cash out without refinancing.

Delinquencies on non-QMs increase again; Altisource hires COO for non-agency effort; DBRS adds Verity Global Solutions as an acceptable due-diligence provider.

Expanded-credit MBS issuance declined by nearly 50% in the fourth quarter compared with the previous quarter. Prime MBS issuance fared even worse, essentially freezing during the final months of the year. (Includes data chart.)