The securitization rate for residential mortgages increased each quarter in 2023. Though on an annual basis, the rate was steady. (Includes data table.)

Banks are reducing their appetite for mortgages, providing opportunities for nonbanks to boost their investment in the mortgage market. Redwood Trust looks to be leading the way in terms of bank partnerships.

Neuberger Berman returned to the expanded-credit MBS space with a new shelf and Logan Finance.

The Structured Finance Association, which is developing a compliance tool to facilitate uniformity in the non-agency MBS market on QM standards, has run into a vexing issue regarding the definition of a QM.

The mortgage industry keeps pining for a rate cut but so far the Fed has resisted. This week, a hotter-than-anticipated CPI reading stalled momentum on the rate front and MBS prices headed lower.

The diversification inherent in MBS may be the ideal tool to combat climate risk in housing finance.

The top three MBS issuers in February: UWM, PennyMac and Rocket Mortgage.

Ratings for MBS with residential transition loans are helping to increase investor demand.

Cardinal Financial plans to offer the industry’s first security backed by VA mortgages scored with FICO 10 T.

Ed DeMarco, the former acting director of the FHFA, was among a handful of panelists at the SFVegas conference this week who called for more standardization in the non-agency MBS market.