After some tightening in the fourth quarter of 2016, issuers of prime non-agency mortgage-backed securities in the first quarter of 2017 largely returned to the underwriting standards typically seen in the sector, according to an analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Some $2.60 billion of prime non-agency MBS was issued during the quarter, spread across six deals, including a $1.03 billion issuance by JPMorgan Chase. Underwriting ... [Includes two data charts]

Deephaven Mortgage is preparing to issue a $221.14 million nonprime mortgage-backed security, according to a presale report from S&P Global Ratings. The majority of mortgages in the deal were originated by Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions, a firm that has issued nonprime MBS on its own. While loans from 43 lenders will be included in Deephaven Residential Mortgage Trust 2017-1, Angel Oak accounts for 59.6 percent of the contributions. The other correspondent ...

Issuance of mortgage-backed securities backed by newly originated nonprime mortgages increased in the first quarter of 2017, according to Inside Nonconforming Markets. An estimated $411.36 million in nonprime MBS was issued during the quarter, a 23.2 percent increase from the previous quarter. And no nonprime MBS was issued during the first quarter of 2016. Issuance in the first quarter of this year marked the second best quarter for volume since nonprime MBS activity ...

Private capital needs to return to the mortgage market to make the market less dependent on taxpayers, according to JPMorgan Chase. The company dedicated portions of its latest annual report to call for a number of changes that could increase non-agency lending. According to Chase, a “healthy” non-agency mortgage-backed security market hasn’t resumed eight years after the financial crisis because housing finance reform and other securitization standards ...

With the potential for restrictions placed on Ocwen Financial to be removed in the near future, officials at the nonbank stress that Ocwen has transformed compared with when the restrictions were applied. Near the end of 2014, Ocwen agreed to a $150.0 million settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services. Among other provisions, the settlement required Ocwen to meet certain benchmarks and receive approval from the state regulator before acquiring ...

Small banks reduced the share of non-qualified mortgages they originated in 2016, but some nonbanks are expected to significantly increase their activity in the sector. Non-QMs accounted for 9.0 percent of the mortgages originated by participants in the American Bankers Association’s annual real-estate lending survey. Some 159 banks were surveyed by the trade group and about 76.0 percent of the participating institutions had assets of less than $1.0 billion. In 2015 ...

Congress should make a number of changes to the ability-to-repay rule that would encourage more non-agency lending, according to the Consumer Mortgage Coalition. The CMC represents lenders, servicers and service providers. “The liability for mortgage lending is now so severe that private capital has left the mortgage market and has stayed away,” Anne Canfield, executive director of the CMC, said in testimony last week submitted to a subcommittee of the ...

Flagstar Bancorp announced that it’s set to acquire certain assets of Opes Advisors, including the nonbank’s origination unit. Opes focuses on purchase mortgages on the west coast through the retail channel. Opes was the 39th-ranked jumbo lender in 2015, with $1.02 billion in jumbo originations, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Jumbos accounted for 40.6 percent ... [Includes three briefs]

There is a new boss in the Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities market. PennyMac Financial rose to the top of the issuer ranking in the first quarter of 2017 despite a sharp decline in volume, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside FHA/VA Lending. PennyMac issued $10.78 billion of single-family Ginnie securities during the first three months of the year. The figures in this analysis are based on Ginnie loan-level disclosures, which truncate loan amounts to $1,000 increments. PennyMac’s first-quarter production was off 27.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2016, a slightly bigger decline than the 24.8 percent drop in overall Ginnie issuance. Even though the firm fared slightly worse than the total market, its first-quarter downturn was less severe than Wells Fargo’s. Wells has been the top Ginnie producer for a long time, as well as the top player in most segments of the ... [ Charts ]

A steep drop in VA-backed securities issuance in the first quarter of 2017 suggests that Ginnie Mae’s efforts to curb serial refinancing of VA loans are working, according to agency officials. Speaking on a panel at the annual VA Lenders Conference in Kansas City, MO, this week, Ginnie executives said that a change in pooling requirements for streamlined refinance mortgages appears to have curbed a destructive appetite for refinancing new VA loans within six months of closing. The practice has caused faster prepayments in Ginnie mortgage-backed securities pools and smaller payouts to investors. VA refi volume fell 42.7 percent from the previous quarter (see chart on page 2), contributing significantly to the 32.2 percent decline in total VA loan securitization during the period. John Getchis, senior vice president at Ginnie Mae, said he does not think the churning trend will continue because the ...