Bank demand for agency MBS is weak, leading to wider spreads and losses on MBS holdings for some. Banks are also reducing their lending activity, providing an opening for nonbanks.
Delinquencies are rising on commercial MBS, driven by office properties. Losses are expected to follow and it could be years before the situation improves.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. But, perhaps, having the GSEs create demand by purchasing (a lot) more of their own MBS in an effort to lower rates is a bridge too far.
Vehicle ABS issuance reached a record $46.5 billion in the third quarter, and that doesn't count rental-fleet financing. But a sharp decline in auto-dealer floorplan securitization led to a slip in business ABS production. (Includes three data tables.)
Industry trade groups have sent letters to the Federal Reserve chair, asking for an end to its quantitative tightening and rate hikes in an effort to reduce mortgage rates and stimulate home sales.
Mortgage rates remain stubbornly high by modern standards with the spread between the 10-year Treasury and MBS showing no mercy. Is there any hope on the horizon for a reprieve? Probably not.
Nonbanks could fund the closing of government-insured mortgages using commercial paper guaranteed by Ginnie and the loans would be pledged as collateral to the commercial paper, former Ginnie President Ted Tozer suggested.