The mortgage-securities market in 2009 recovered from the decade-low level it hit the year before, but overall production fell far short of the volume reached during the housing boom. A total of $1.931 trillion of MBS were issued last year, according to a new market analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. That was up 37.1 percent from the level set in 2008, when deteriorating... [Includes two charts]
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Although Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are technically expected to begin dismantling their massive retained portfolios of whole loans and MBS this year, a revised conservatorship plan unveiled by the Obama administration effectively allows the government-sponsored enterprises to gain weight while they go on a diet. Under the original conservatorship scheme, the GSEs were supposed to reduce...
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Private investors may come back to the MBS market in 2010 as spreads widen in the wake of the March sunset of the federal government’s massive purchase program, according to Barclays Capital. As of the end of 2009, the Federal Reserve held some $908 billion of agency MBS with commitments to purchase another $155 billion. Barclays analyst Nicholas Strand said it is highly unlikely...
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The American Securitization Forum requested that the Treasury Department tweak the guidance governing the Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program to ensure servicers aren’t on the hook for any forborne principal used to lower borrowers’ payments. Historically, long-term, non-interest bearing principal forbearance has not been used by mortgage servicers...
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The prospects of big losses on jumbo MBS issued between 2005 and 2008 continue to worsen, and the more recent the vintage, the bleaker the prospects, according to the latest loss projections from Moody’s Investors Service. “On average, Moody’s is now projecting cumulative losses of 3.8 percent for 2005 securitizations, 8.0 percent for 2006 securitizations, 10.9 percent for 2007...
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Heavy volume at Ginnie Mae helped keep issuance levels for real estate mortgage investment conduits backed by agency MBS to remain almost unchanged during the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside MBS & ABS. A total of $91.02 billion agency REMICs were issued during the fourth quarter, down just 0.3 percent from... [Includes two charts]
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