The economic effects of the pandemic have slowed refi activity for investment properties. That, in turn, has dampened prepayment speeds for 100% investment-property pools, Wells Fargo Securities said.
There’s a lack of standardization among non-agency MBS servicers regarding reporting of loans in forbearance. Investors are having difficulties understanding what exactly servicers are doing.
Rating services are requiring higher credit enhancement levels and taking negative actions on outstanding deals due to problems stemming from the coronavirus. Fitch finalized new criteria for residential MBS late last week.
With overnight funding in the agency repo market hovering around 15 basis points and term repo rates a shade above the one-month LIBOR, yields for agency mREITs could edge upward, KBW analysts predict.
Federal regulators have delayed their review of risk-retention requirements until next year. Also, most regulatory actions planned for MBS and ABS fall into the “long-term” category.
Under the CFPB proposal, which aims to establish a level playing field between the GSEs and the non-agency market, most loans will still be QMs, but there might be fewer incentives to sell the loans to the GSEs.
Demand for non-agency MBS has increased significantly in recent weeks after investors fled the market in late March and April. Issuance has been driven by somewhat seasoned non-qualified mortgages.