The retail channel, which is the predominant source of jumbo originations, gained market share from the correspondent channel last year. (Includes data chart.)

Investors that are active in the market for non-QMs can’t seem to get enough of the loans or MBS. Meanwhile, large firms continue to avoid the sector due to concerns about liabilities and the lack of uniformity.

Redwood’s mortgage aggregation activity is increasing as banks apparently can’t handle all of the new volume tied to a decline in interest rates.

Despite regulatory talk about increasing efforts to help the non-agency market compete with the GSEs, the volume of noncore loans sold to Fannie and Freddie increased in 2019, led by mortgages with DTIs greater than 43%. (Includes data chart.)

MFA Financial sharply boosted its acquisitions of non-QMs in the fourth quarter. It has investments in five lenders and plans to issue MBS.

OptionWide is a relatively new non-QM lender while DoubleLine has close to $150 billion in assets under management.

If the non-agency MBS market wants to avoid harsh regulations, it should seriously consider self-governance as an option, the Structured Finance Association believes.

The SEC’s Office of Credit Ratings is exploring how it can address conflicts of interest in ratings of MBS and ABS. An increase in performance-related disclosures and boosting unsolicited ratings are being considered.

DoubleLine Capital has picked up a minority stake in OptionWide Financial, while MFA Financial has put its might behind five non-qualified-mortgage lenders.