Loan-level details from CoreLogic provide a comparison of interest rates charged on jumbos and conventional mortgages. One finding: Spreads returned to pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2021.

Select Portfolio Servicing added nearly twice as much servicing from just-issued non-agency MBS in the fourth quarter as it did in the third. Shellpoint remains the largest servicer of recently issued non-agency MBS. (Includes data chart.)

FHFA’s increase of fees on GSE mortgages for second homes could shift some volume into the non-agency market. Demand for second homes is also increasing.

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.

Loan payoffs through refinancing and the like declined during the fourth quarter while buyouts plummeted. On an annual basis, loan removals were largely flat. (Includes data chart.)

When looking at activity by rating services in 2020, the SEC found problems involving ABS and CLOs, among other issues. The regulator as usual didn’t identify the offenders.

Fannie removed some loans from its MBS early; Guaranteed Rate restructured a jumbo MBS before issuance; the GSEs are prepping separate risk- sharing transactions.

One contributor to the deal: Impac Mortgage...