Regulatory reform legislation with limited bipartisan support is making its way through the Senate, and a change in leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could provide further relief for the industry. This week, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs approved a regulatory reform bill on a 16-7 vote. S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, would make adjustments to the standards for qualified mortgages ...

Housing-finance reform legislation in Congress will likely include a government guarantee for mortgage securities backed by conventional home loans after a concession this week by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX. The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee has long pushed to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, removing the government guarantee associated with the government-sponsored enterprises. “I continue to believe that a government guarantee in ...

Originations of jumbo mortgages increased in the third quarter of 2017 compared with the previous period, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. But through nine months of the year, production was down compared with 2016 and the sector is losing market share as a handful of major lenders are seeing significant declines in their jumbo production. Demand for jumbo mortgages has declined somewhat, according to lenders ... [Includes one data chart]

Starwood Property Trust plans to issue a non-agency mortgage-backed security with non-qualified mortgages in the first quarter of 2018, according to officials at the real estate investment trust. Starwood only recently started acquiring non-QMs, with help from Federal Home Loan Bank advances. Officials said the company acquired $128.0 million of non-agency mortgages in the third quarter, bringing the REIT’s portfolio of such loans to $419.0 million. Jeffrey DiModica, Starwood’s ...

A new, somewhat atypical, non-agency mortgage-backed security from JPMorgan Chase includes a large share of non-qualified mortgages and no fixed-rate mortgages. JPMorgan Mortgage Trust 2017-5 is a $671.7 million deal that received preliminary AAA ratings last week from Fitch Ratings, Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Moody’s Investors Service. The first four deals from Chase this year largely stuck with QMs and included a fair amount of mortgages eligible for sale to the ...

Originations of so-called expanded-credit mortgages among a group of 15 lenders were essentially level in the third quarter of 2017 compared with the previous quarter, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The lenders had a total of $10.61 billion of expanded-credit volume in the third quarter, up 1.7 percent from the previous quarter. Expanded-credit loans include non-qualified mortgages, nonprime mortgages ... [Includes one data chart]

Issuance of nonprime mortgage-backed securities picked up in November with new deals from Angel Oak Capital Advisors and Invictus Capital Partners. A $210.2 million MBS from Angel Oak is scheduled to close on Nov. 28 and a $253.1 million deal from Invictus closed last week. The deal from Angel Oak is the third nonprime MBS of the year from the firm and follows closely after a nonprime MBS from Deephaven Mortgage where Angel Oak contributed mortgages with an unpaid ...

California is a jumbo mortgage gold mine that’s dominated by banks, giving Banc of California an enviable starting point. BoC is also differentiating itself by focusing on non-qualified mortgages and avoiding the retail channel. BoC contributed $122.9 million of jumbo loans to a new mortgage-backed security from JPMorgan Chase. Selling loans into the securitization market is a significant shift for BoC, which had previously only contributed eight mortgages to a jumbo MBS issued in 2014 ...

Consumer advocates are pushing for changes that could impact the non-agency market, including raising concerns about the use of Federal Home Loan Bank advances and calling for revisions to standards for qualified mortgages. In a letter this month to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, a group of 136 consumer advocates were critical of Starwood Property Trust’s recently disclosed use of FHLBank advances to fund acquisitions of non-QMs. Starwood is a real estate investment ...

Issuance of expanded-prime non-agency mortgage-backed securities is heating up with a new participant in the market and a quick second deal from Redwood Trust. Ellington Financial is preparing to issue its first non-agency MBS, which will largely consist of non-qualified mortgages originated by LendSure Mortgage. Morningstar Credit Ratings and S&P Global Ratings assigned preliminary AAA ratings to the deal this week. “Ellington Financial’s ability to access the robust securitization markets ...