Most mortgage REITs took advantage of strong MBS fundamentals to increase their agency holdings in the fourth quarter. While some REITs are drawn to the surging non-QM sector, industry holdings of non-agency MBS fell last year. (Includes two data tables.)

The potential rule change would allow banks to redesignate MBS holdings from held-to-maturity to available-for-sale.

Investors are showing increased interest in securitizations of traditional home equity loans and home equity investments.

There was strong investor interest in Redwood Trust’s first issuance through the Aspire shelf, which focused on expanded-credit mortgages.

The investors claim the warehouse lenders and underwriters were aware of fraud at Tricolor, but ignored the warnings.

The $562.5 million offering is linked to a pool of loans with a total unpaid principal balance of $5.0 billion.

Kroll Bond Ratings Agency placed a 2024 transaction issued by Kobalt Music on watch for a potential downgrade because of the flagging performance of the underlying assets.

Secondary-market sales of agency loans followed seasonal patterns last month. Although purchase-mortgage volume saw the biggest decline, the sector still accounted for 55.8% of agency issuance last month. (Includes two data tables.)

The SEC’s recent push to update disclosure requirements could prompt issuance of publicly-registered MBS.

Fannie Mae’s retained mortgage portfolio surpassed the size of Freddie Mac’s in January, a first since 2022 as Fannie is adding to its MBS holdings at a faster rate than Freddie.