Industry participants are gearing up for non-agency MBS backed by non-qualified mortgages, but don’t expect a flood of volume anytime soon. Four non-agency MBS backed by new nonprime mortgages were issued in 2015, the largest of which was a $150.35 million deal from Angel Oak Capital Advisors. None of the deals were subject to risk-retention requirements that took effect at the end of 2015 and none were rated. A rating on a non-QM MBS could improve...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac trimmed their retained mortgage investment portfolios in the first quarter of 2016 by a combined 2.8 percent. The Federal Housing Finance Agency directed the government-sponsored enterprises to wind down their portfolios by 15 percent each year until they reach $250 billion by 2018. At the end of the first quarter, Fannie’s mortgage-related investment portfolio dropped to $332.6 billion, a 3.6 percent decline from December 2015. The biggest drop was in the GSE’s non-agency MBS holdings, which fell 21.3 percent in the first quarter to just $13.3 billion, roughly one tenth the amount held back in the heyday of the subprime and Alt A MBS markets. Fannie plans...[Includes one data table]

Among the government-sponsored enterprises’ holdings of nonprime mortgages, non-agency mortgage-backed securities are declining much more quickly than purchased/guaranteed mortgages, according to an analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The combined nonprime MBS holdings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined by 9.6 percent during the first quarter of 2016 compared with the end of 2015. The GSEs’ combined purchased/guaranteed holdings of subprime mortgages and Alt A mortgages declined by 4.1 percent in that time. Similar trends are evident on a yearly basis. MBS account...

Although several high-profile, publicly traded nonbank servicers are having a tough time turning a profit, non-depository institutions continued to build market share in mortgage servicing during the first quarter of 2016, a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking reveals. On the whole, mortgage servicing is somewhat stagnant. The top 50 servicers as of the end of March managed a combined portfolio of $7.266 trillion, down very slightly from the previous quarter. Servicing tied to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities managed a humble 0.2 percent gain in the first quarter, and the non-agency MBS market is still in the doldrums. It remains...[Includes two data tables]

New MBS issuance backed by income-property mortgages fell in the first quarter of 2016 as all sectors of the market got off to a weak start in the new year, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. A total of $44.78 billion of commercial mortgages were securitized in the first three months of the year, down 11.8 percent from the fourth quarter. It marked the lowest three-month output since the second quarter of 2014, when $37.61 billion of commercial mortgages were securitized. Both sides of the industry saw...[Includes one data table]

A lack of formal guidance from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding TRID mortgage disclosures won’t prevent rating services from placing ratings on new non-agency MBS. The rating services are even willing to rate new deals before the Structured Finance Industry Group releases standards for the handling of TRID issues by third-party due diligence firms. However, issuers and investors appear to be less comfortable with liability from the rule the CFPB implemented in October combining the disclosure requirements of the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Save for a $331.95 million jumbo MBS issued by Two Harbors Investment at the end of March, no firm has issued a deal that includes loans subject to TRID. On March 18, SFIG proposed...

Structured finance investors don’t have much of an appetite for new non-agency MBS, but they appear to be hungry for fast-food business securitizations. Taco Bell is the latest firm to enter the market, offering a $2.10 billion securitization. The planned Taco Bell Funding LLC Series 2016-1 received preliminary BBB ratings from Standard & Poor’s late last week. It’s the second whole-business securitization to price this year, following a $575.0 million deal involving Sonic Drive-In that also priced in April. The Taco Bell securitization is backed...

The performance of mortgages originated in recent years remains strong, pushing down delinquency rates across loan types. However, liquidation timelines for certain loans have hit new highs recently as servicers continue to work on foreclosing mortgages that went into default years ago. As of the end of March, the overall delinquency rate on mortgages declined to 4.08 percent, according to Black Knight Financial Services. The delinquency rate declined by 12.4 percent compared with March 2015 and is at its lowest point since March 2007. The foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate was...

A lender that focuses on investment properties is preparing to issue a non-agency MBS backed by adjustable-rate mortgages on residential and commercial properties. The deal shares some characteristics with non-agency MBS backed by new loans, but it’s different in a lot of ways. The planned $358.60 million Velocity Commercial Capital 2016-1 received provisional AAA ratings this week from Kroll Bond Rating Agency. Residential properties account for 55.3 percent of the collateral, with small commercial properties making up the rest. All of the mortgages backing the planned MBS are for investment properties. Velocity Commercial Capital issued...

Pingora Asset Management, one of the largest investors in “flow” mortgage servicing rights arrangements, is about to become the property of the nation’s largest real estate investment trust focused on the MBS market, Annaly Capital Management, New York. The purchase of Pingora’s parent, Hatteras Financial, Winston-Salem, NC – a deal valued at $1.5 billion – was unveiled last week, but one important facet regarding Hatteras garnered little in the way of press attention: that it just happens to own Pingora, which at last check laid claim to roughly $76 billion in MSR assets. However, not all of the servicing rights will become...