First-lien portfolio holdings continued to increase in the third quarter of 2015, according to a new Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of bank and thrift call reports. Banks and thrifts held $1.85 trillion in first-lien mortgages in portfolio at the end of September, up 0.3 percent compared with the end of the second quarter and a 2.8 percent increase compared with the third quarter of 2014. Wells Fargo had the largest portfolio at $266.3 billion as of ... [Includes one data chart]

Hatteras Financial is working to issue a jumbo mortgage-backed security backed by adjustable-rate mortgages. The real estate investment trust has acquired more than $275 million in jumbo ARMs since launching its conduit operations last year. The planned jumbo MBS from Hatteras is Onslow Bay Mortgage Loan Trust 2015-1, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week. The REIT’s conduit operates as Onslow Bay Financial ...

President Obama last week threatened to veto legislation progressing in Congress to provide qualified-mortgage status to loans held in portfolio by depository institutions. Industry analysts suggest that the bill still has a chance at being signed into law, if adjustments are made. The House approved H.R. 1210, the Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act, on a 255-174 vote last week. Similar legislation is under consideration in the Senate. The bill in the House would ...

Delinquencies on subprime mortgages continued to decline in the third quarter of 2015, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group said the non-seasonally adjusted serious delinquent rate for subprime mortgages hit 12.66 percent at the end of September, the ninth consecutive quarterly decline. The subprime serious delinquent rate was down from 13.40 percent in the second quarter of 2015, 15.52 percent in the third quarter of 2014 and 21.25 percent in ...

The Structured Finance Industry Group released its latest “RMBS 3.0 Green Paper” this week as part of an effort to revive the non-agency mortgage-backed security market. The nearly 300-page paper focuses on model representations and warranties for non-agency MBS backed by new originations. SFIG detailed 39 model reps and warrants, adding to eight other model reps and warrants that were previously released by the trade group. About half of the latest model reps and warrants ...

The third quarter of 2015 marked one of the few periods in recent years when Redwood Trust didn’t sell a jumbo mortgage-backed security. Instead, the real estate investment trust focused its jumbo sales efforts on the whole-loan channel, a trend expected to continue into 2016, according to officials at Redwood. “A strong portfolio bid for home loans from banks currently results in a more favorable loan-sale execution for us versus securitization,” Brett Nicholas, Redwood’s president ...

Issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities started to pick up speed in November after a slow start to the fourth quarter of 2015. Redwood Trust plans to issue a $337.08 million jumbo MBS with a number of unique characteristics, according to presale reports. Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2015-4 will be backed by 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, 75.5 percent of which were originated by UBS Bank. Kroll Bond Rating Agency noted that this will be the first post-crisis deal to include ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency probably won’t increase the baseline conforming loan limit in 2016, according to industry analysts. The baseline conforming loan limit of $417,000 hasn’t increased since 2006 as home prices declined significantly shortly thereafter. The FHFA will use its seasonally-adjusted “expanded data” house-price index to set loan limits for the government-sponsored enterprises in 2016. The loan limits are expected to be published ...

Originations of nonprime loans that don’t meet standards for qualified mortgages are beginning to ramp up while still accounting for a small share of total origination volume. Impac Mortgage Holdings, one of the most prominent originators of non-QMs, has posted sharp growth since starting to offer the loans in the third quarter of 2014. Impac originated $48.0 million in non-QMs in the third quarter of 2015, more than double the $22.3 million in non-QM originations the lender had ...

Ocwen Financial continues to work toward satisfying regulatory requirements that would allow the nonbank to resume acquisitions of mortgage servicing rights. However, officials stress that MSR acquisitions aren’t the main focus for the company. “Right now, I don’t see in the marketplace a lot of opportunities for the kind of servicing transfers that would interest Ocwen and that’s why we’re focusing more of our efforts on generating new assets ... [Includes one data chart]