A bill introduced in the Senate last week with some bipartisan support would allow real estate investment trusts to regain access to funding from Federal Home Loan Banks. The bill would overturn a 2016 rule from the Federal Housing Finance Agency that restricted captive insurance companies from being FHLBank members. Before the FHFA rule took effect, a number of REITs established captive insurers to gain access to FHLBank advances, which come with better terms than ...

Citadel Servicing’s foray into securitizing home loans that don’t meet the qualified-mortgage test is now slated for some time in March, after multiple delays, according to sources familiar with the company’s operations. The nonbank’s first nonprime deal is expected to be roughly $150 million.

Market share for lenders whose loans were included in prime jumbo mortgage-backed securities was much more dispersed in 2017 than the previous year, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. JPMorgan Chase – the top issuer of jumbo MBS – remained the lender with the most collateral for new deals. But the bank reduced its jumbo deliveries by a whopping 65.1 percent from 2016 to just $1.58 billion last year. That was still tops in the market, accounting for 14.5 percent of the loans pooled in $10.88 billion of ... [Includes two data charts]

Legislation that would define loans held in portfolio by smaller banks as qualified mortgages garnered unanimous support at a markup in the House Financial Services Committee last week. H.R. 2226, the Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act, was approved on a 55-0 vote. The bill has been kicking around in Congress for years and was modified at the markup to help win support in the Senate. Rep. Andy Barr, R-KY, introduced the legislation. He said it will “expand access to ...

An affiliate of Invictus Capital Partners issued its latest nonprime mortgage-backed security this week and Deephaven Mortgage is preparing to close a deal. Invictus’s $249.0 million Verus Securitization Trust 2018-1 received AAA ratings from Morningstar Credit Ratings and S&P Global Ratings. Its senior tranche was supported by subordinated bonds equaling 37.5 percent of the deal. The loans had an average credit score of 700, an average combined loan-to-value ratio of 71.1 percent and ...

Nearly a year after an affiliate of Galton Funding issued its first expanded-prime mortgage-backed security, the firm is bringing a follow-up. The planned $316.9 million issuance is larger than the first deal from the firm and the MBS differ in some ways. Fitch Ratings and Kroll Bond Rating Agency placed preliminary AAA ratings on Galton Funding Mortgage Trust 2018-1. The deal will include credit enhancement of 10.75 percent on the senior tranche. The loans have a weighted-average credit score of ...

The latest jumbo mortgage-backed security planned by JPMorgan Chase is smaller than other deals recently issued by the firm. J.P. Morgan Mortgage Trust 2018-1 will be a $463.7 million issuance. A similarly structured deal from Chase in December had a volume of $883.8 million, which followed a $911.0 million deal in October. All three MBS share similar characteristics, with Chase as the top contributor and loans that seasoned for an average of three months at the time of issuance ...

Net income per share at Redwood Trust increased in 2017 as the real estate investment trust put an emphasis on expanded-credit mortgages and is poised to further diversify its residential mortgage activities. The real estate investment trust estimated that its net income per share will fall somewhere in the range of $1.57 to $1.63 for 2017, up from $1.54 per share in 2016. The REIT added that its average return on equity will be in the range of 11.6 percent to 12.1 percent in 2017 compared with ...

New Penn Financial recently introduced a new non-agency program that allows for non-qualified mortgages and alternative documentation, among other features. The SmartEdge product includes loan amounts up to $3.0 million, credit scores as low as 620, debt-to-income ratios up to 50.0 percent and loan-to-value ratios as high as 90.0 percent. New Penn is in the process of being sold to New Residential Mortgage, a real estate investment trust. SmartSelf allows ... [Includes two briefs]

Angel Oak Capital Advisors saw stronger than expected demand from investors for a fund that focuses on non-qualified mortgages. AOCA announced last week that the private fund closed to new investors after raising $291 million, exceeding the initial goal of $250 million.