In the secondary market, issuers have had to deal with diminished demand for mortgage products originated prior to the recent runup in interest rates. Is the worst behind the sector?
MBS-investing REITs continue to pay sweet dividends but the asset value of their holdings has come under pressure thanks to spiking interest rates. First-quarter earnings should be revealing.
Fannie’s CEO is set to retire. The GSE chair is departing as well; Waterfall Asset Management launches non-agency MBS with Ginnie EBOs; hurricanes impacting performance of solar ABS.
MBS and ABS tied to floating-rate assets could see rising delinquencies as interest rates increase. Inflation also remains a concern, though Fitch and Moody’s suggest that most deals can weather the storm.
Non-QM lending was supposed to be an industry bright spot this year, but unhedged loan pipelines are causing selected damage throughout the sector. One victim: Sprout Mortgage.
Secondary market player Maxex has received a new round of funding from its backers, but details are a bit light. The platform hopes to engage in more non-QM trading this year.