Issuance of VA cash-out refis with high loan-to-value ratios could drop 50% this year due to pooling restrictions imposed by Ginnie in November. VA’s lower-LTV cash-out tiers are expected to pick up the slack.
December was a slow month for MBS trades but 2019, on average, was quite good. Meanwhile, just when you thought rates might start rising, a monkey wrench or two gets thrown into the works.
The Mortgage Bankers Association recommended changes to Ginnie Mae’s proposed Digital Collateral Guidance to clarify requirements for accepting digital promissory notes and other documents.
The novelty of prepayment as a primary risk factor is one of the charms MBS have for foreign investors, particularly sophisticated institutional investors. That’s because it has a relatively low correlation factor with other assets.
The changes outlined to boost funding for Ginnie Mae servicing rights could bring the agency closer to the market for MSRs on GSE loans, according to industry stakeholders.
The issue of fast prepays on VA IRRRLs refuses to die. Recently, VA mailed a warning letter to as many as 500 lenders. Inside MBS & ABS obtained a copy of the correspondence.