Non-agency mortgages, both jumbos and non-qualified mortgages, look promising to Western Alliance Bank as margins on conventional-conforming loans compress and production falls.

Milo Credit is offering a mortgage that allows borrowers to qualify solely by pledging Bitcoin. The lender’s asset treatment of Bitcoin varies significantly from how the GSEs view borrowers with cryptocurrencies.

Chase issuing large jumbo MBS; more prime non-agency MBS; Velocity Financial originations hit a record in the fourth quarter; Boston Lending issues non-agency MBS with proprietary reverse mortgages; few FHA/VA mortgages make it into the non-agency market.

The first non-agency MBS issued by a Community Development Financial Institution includes loans that didn’t require verification of borrower income or employment.

The California-based mortgage lender has a new CEO and plans to increase its non-QM production and issue MBS.

Recent non-agency MBS include the year’s first expanded-credit MBS, plenty of prime deals and even a security with proprietary reverse mortgages.

Issuance of non-agency MBS last year topped the volume seen pre-pandemic. Activity was concentrated on prime loans, both non-agency jumbos and GSE-eligible mortgages. (Includes data chart.)

Mortgages in the transaction were acquired by Western Alliance Bank on a correspondent basis and will remain on its balance sheet. Risk-sharing deals in the non-agency market are rare and largely involve megabanks.

Prospects for non-agency MBS issuance in 2022 look mixed, with expanded-credit activity expected to increase while volume involving non-agency jumbos and GSE-eligible loans could decline.

Western Asset Mortgage Capital plans to shed investments in commercial mortgages and shift to residential assets, including non-QMs. The REIT was taking losses on commercial investments.