The recent ABS East conference prompted another round of introspection among participants in the non-agency mortgage-backed security market. While efforts to address concerns raised by potential investors are progressing, a multitude of issues continues to hamper non-agency MBS issuance. Issuers continue to focus on finding investors willing to buy AAA tranches of non-agency MBS. “Some of the AAA investors will come back when the pricing gets a little more ...

Moves by two players in the jumbo market demonstrate that competition for originations of jumbo mortgages remains strong. Officials at Titan Capital Solutions have confirmed that the firm will cease its correspondent funding operation for jumbos. “We made the decision as the space was becoming really crowded and those entering the space have much bigger, deeper pockets than Titan,” said Ruth Lee, the lender’s executive vice president. “It was a great channel ...

The inclusion of a deal agent or transaction manager in new non-agency mortgage-backed securities would significantly increase investors’ confidence in the sector, according to industry participants. Alessandro Pagani, a portfolio manager and head of securitized assets at Loomis Sayles, said a large number of institutional investors have pushed for a deal agent and the hope is that if non-agency MBS includes the feature, investors will buy into the deals ...

Add loan-originator compensation rules to the list of things hindering the origination of loans that fall outside the qualified-mortgage standard. Bob Magee, chief investment officer at Shellpoint Partners, said many loan officers and brokers are reluctant to work on non-QMs because the loans take more time to originate, often get rejected and yet tend to offer the same compensation as an agency mortgage. “If I have loan officers who are paid on a commission for ...

A quirk in the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau drafted standards for qualified mortgages has put non-agency lenders at a disadvantage, according to a former CFPB official that was heavily involved in drafting the ability-to-repay rule. At the recent ABS East conference, Peter Carroll, an executive vice president at Quicken Loans, reiterated calls for the CFPB to make adjustments to Appendix Q of the ATR rule. Appendix Q details documentation requirements ...

Sales of higher-priced mortgages – a proxy for nonprime loans – increased in 2014 compared with the previous year, according to an analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets of data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Some $52.28 billion in higher-priced mortgages were sold in 2014, up 48.6 percent from the previous year. Sales to Ginnie Mae accounted for a large portion of the increase along with sales to other purchasers, including ... [Includes one data chart]

The planned $150 million non-agency mortgage-backed security from Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions and Nomura Securities might have been delayed due to issues involving representations and warranties, according to people familiar with the deal. The MBS was to be backed by nonprime non-qualified-mortgages and might be scrapped. Hudson City Savings Bank was hit with a consent order last week from the Consumer Financial Protection ... [Includes eight briefs]

Mortgage securitization rates in 2015 are still low compared to last year, but some of the decline is likely due to the lag between primary market origination and MBS issuance. For the first six months of the year, new MBS issuance represented 73.8 percent of total originations, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. That’s down from a 75.4 percent securitization rate for all of 2014. Securitization rates are...[Includes one data table]

Bank and thrift holdings of first-lien mortgages continued to grow in the second quarter of 2015, according to an Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of call reports. Most of the change occurred among the top three bank mortgage portfolios: Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. Banks and thrifts held $1.81 trillion of first-lien mortgages as of the end of the second quarter of 2015. The holdings increased by 1.5 percent compared with ... [Includes one data chart]

Information regarding the $72.11 million non-agency mortgage-backed security from Lone Star Funds’ Colt Funding has been limited, although a document obtained by Inside Nonconforming Markets provides some more details on the deal. COLT 2015-A was the first non-agency MBS to be backed predominantly by non-qualified mortgages. Credit Suisse was the lead manager, and U.S. Bank is the trustee. The MBS was backed by mortgages originated by Caliber Home Loans ...