Boosted by a surge in security production by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as non-conforming MBS issuers, the overall securitization rate for new mortgages climbed to the second high-est quarterly level ever during the third quarter of 2005. According to numbers compiled by Inside MBS & ABS, a very healthy 69.7 percent of new mort-gage originations found their way into securities in the latest quarter. That was up... Read More

Plans in Congress to reform oversight of the government-sponsored enterprises could have a significant effect on GSE operations, according to analysts with Lehman Brothers, but Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would still be able to play major roles in the secondary mortgage market. Researchers said during a conference call with investors this week that they expect lawmakers to address the issue of GSE reform early next year. The House has... Read More

Servicing option ARMs can be tricky because borrowers have several choices in how much to pay every month, but MBS ratings analysts say servicers appear up to the challenge. Contacted by Inside MBS & ABS, ratings service officials said that their field reviews have turned up few problems so far in the servicing of option ARMs. That’s partly because the handful of lenders servicing these deals are using robust technology... Read More

Standard & Poor’s continued to rake in the most rating business in the burgeoning non-agency MBS market through the first nine months of 2005, but the company is seeing increased competition from an old rival and a newcomer in the market. S&P rated some $802.10 billion of non-agency MBS during the first three quarters of the year, or about 93.4 percent of the rated volume of new issuance. That included... Read More

The rise of adjustable-rate mortgages as a popular consumer choice over the past few years has dominated the primary market, but uncertainty persists among investors as many of the loans’ interest rates are due to reset in the near future. ARM rate resets are currently nothing to worry about, said Bear Stearns analysts in a recent update. “The resets in and of themselves look benign,” the report says. Somewhere between... Read More

MortgageRamp officials say they are taking credit risk management to a new level. The Atlanta-based technology and business-processing firm launched a residential loan performance advisory service recently with the intentions of helping mortgage securities investors to easily, but thoroughly, understand a pool’s characteristics and attain the ability to drill down into individual loans to see problems all via a Web-based platform. The service, RS3, approaches credit risk management in a... Read More