Originations of jumbo mortgages increased in the third quarter of 2014 compared with the previous quarter, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliated publication. Big banks continue to have a strong appetite for jumbos, prompting some smaller banks to sell jumbos to them and keeping some nonbanks out of the jumbo mortgage-backed security market altogether. An estimated $65.0 billion in jumbos were originated in the third quarter of 2014 ... [Includes one data chart]
Read More
Goldman Sachs teamed with EverBank Financial to issue a unique jumbo mortgage-backed security last week, its first jumbo MBS since the financial crisis. The $282.80 million GS Mortgage-Backed Securities Trust 2014-EB1 received AAA ratings with credit enhancement of 8.35 percent on the senior tranche. All of the loans in the deal are hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages originated by EverBank. Some 7.9 percent of the ARMs have a 10-year interest-only period. The deal marked a shift ...
Read More
One of the chief concerns among some top institutional investors in the non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities market is coming up with a way to price the risks of poorly underwritten or serviced mortgages more effectively. The objective is to price deals so the costs associated with an origination or servicing failure will be more appropriately assigned to those responsible for the defect. During a recent industry conference, a managing director at ...
Read More
Chimera Investment emerged from years of accounting issues with an ability to return to the new-issue jumbo mortgage-backed security market. However, the real estate investment trust has focused its new investment strategy on agency MBS as well as multifamily activity and a unique restructuring of vintage non-agency MBS. Matthew Lambiase, president and CEO of the real estate investment trust, said the returns offered by new jumbo MBS aren’t currently attractive. “The economics are ...
Read More
Proponents of the non-agency market are concerned that the final rule recently issued by federal regulators setting risk-retention requirements for certain securitized mortgages includes an exemption for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Beginning in late 2015, risk-retention requirements for residential mortgages will apply to newly issued non-agency mortgage-backed securities collateralized by loans that don’t meet standards for qualified mortgages. Issuers or lenders contributing to ...
Read More
Jumbo mortgage-backed securities issued in recent years continue to perform exceptionally well, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The rating service pointed to 10 jumbo MBS issued in 2012 and 2013 by Redwood Trust as having built up credit enhancement on the senior bonds due to a low level of delinquencies. “An analysis of 10 transactions suggests that the low delinquency rate will continue as a result of the improving housing market, even as prepayment rates have remained low ...
Read More
Proponents of the non-agency market have seen little help in recent actions by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The FHFA continued its practice of maintaining high-cost loan limits for the government-sponsored enterprises and the FHFA’s strategic plan puts an emphasis on “preserving and conserving” the GSEs’ assets. Last week, the FHFA announced that conforming loan limits for 2015 will be largely unchanged compared with loan limits for 2014. Loan limits will increase ...
Read More
Some 1.0 million outstanding borrowers in the Home Affordable Modification Program are eligible for new incentives announced this week by the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Among other changes, HAMP borrowers will be eligible to earn $5,000 in the sixth year of their modification. The incentive payment is in addition to the $5,000 that has been available to HAMP borrowers that remained current ... [Includes three briefs]
Read More