The U.S. banking industry is a steady, but not a huge, supporter of the non-mortgage-ABS market, accounting for 17.4 percent of the supply of ABS outstanding at the end of 2016, according to a new call-report analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. By comparison, banks and thrifts held about 26.5 percent of MBS outstanding at yearend. Although ABS issuance since the financial crisis has dwarfed production of non-agency MBS, the market still hasn’t fully recovered. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association reports that total ABS outstanding – not including collateralized debt obligations – declined by 0.3 percent during the fourth quarter to $712.1 billion. That’s still well below the total outstanding at the end of 2007, $899.8 billion. Commercial banks and thrifts reported...[Includes two data tables]

The correspondent lending channel was the big winner last year in terms of increased production and market share – at least in the conventional-conforming and jumbo sectors, according to a new analysis by Inside Mortgage Trends. Competition among the three main production channels evened out in the government-insured market. Correspondent production of conventional-conforming mortgages increased...

Homeowners over the age of 65 rarely use their mortgages to access their home equity, according to a new study by the Urban Institute and Fannie Mae. Even as a large number of seniors reported concerns about finances during retirement, Fannie noted that just 6 percent of older adult homeowners are interested in tapping their home equity. Relatively few seniors use FHA reverse mortgages, closed-end seconds, home-equity lines of credit and cash-out refinances to tap built-up home equity. One reason seniors hesitate...

The jumbo mortgage market generally kept pace with the robust growth in first-lien originations last year, but the agency component clearly did better than the non-agency side, according to a newInside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. An estimated $534.57 billion of single-family mortgages with loan balances exceeding $417,000 were produced last year, an increase of 20.0 percent from 2015. That was in line with the 19.0 percent growth in total first-lien production in 2016. But the agency jumbo market – loans in high-cost markets eligible for securitization by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae – was...[Includes three data tables]

Ginnie Mae production fell substantially in February from January as the government-insured lending market continued to lose steam in the first quarter of 2017. Ginnie mortgage-backed securities issuance fell 24.0 percent from January as fewer purchase and refinance loans were pooled for securitization, bringing February’s total issuance to just $32.2 billion. Year-over-year Ginnie MBS issuance, on the other hand, increased by 6.2 percent. The government-insured market set an all-time record of $545.0 billion in originations during 2016, a whopping 31.0 percent jump from the previous year. That total eclipsed previous records for originations of FHA, VA and rural housing loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to data compiled by affiliate Inside Mortgage Finance. In addition, government-insured lending accounted for a record ... [ 3 charts ]

The SFIG Vegas conference this week set another attendance record for the annual event, demonstrating strong interest in the structured finance market. While investors are comfortable with most asset classes of MBS and ABS, significant concerns remain about non-agency MBS. More than 6,700 people registered for the conference, according to Jade Friedensohn, director of programming at Information Management Network, which produced the conference along with the Structured Finance Industry Group. Potential investors in non-agency MBS continued...

The two major players in the jumbo mortgage-backed security market have seen strong demand for their issuance in recent months. But much broader factors are likely to limit issuance, including ongoing uncertainty regarding reform of the government-sponsored enterprises. Marc Simpson, an executive director at JPMorgan Securities, said 50 investors bought into the bank’s latest jumbo MBS, a $1.03 billion issuance. He said it was a “highwater mark,” as 20 to 30 investors typically ...

A planned nonprime mortgage-backed security from an affiliate of Angel Oak Companies received AAA ratings from DBRS and Fitch Ratings. The $146.47 million deal will include credit enhancement of 46.65 percent on the senior tranche. Fitch said the AAA rating for the deal reflects the satisfactory operational review of the contributing lenders conducted by the rating service, 100.0 percent loan-level due diligence review with no material findings, a “Tier 2” representation-and-warranty framework ...

An affiliate of Galton Funding is preparing to issue a jumbo mortgage-backed security with looser underwriting standards than the super-prime deals that have dominated the jumbo market since the financial crisis. DBRS and Moody’s Investors Service assigned AAA ratings to the planned $254.55 million Galton Funding Mortgage Trust 2017-1. The senior tranche of the MBS will include credit enhancement of 13.50 percent, which is much higher than the 5.00 percent credit enhancement ...

Most major jumbo servicers increased their portfolios in 2016, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. A group of 30 servicers handled an estimated $921.10 billion in jumbo mortgages as of the end of the year, up 8.7 percent from the end of 2015. Wells Fargo was the top jumbo servicer, with a $279.97 billion portfolio at yearend. While Wells steadily built up its jumbo servicing throughout the year, it lost some ... [Includes one data chart]