Private-label

Radian Group sold Clayton Services, a due diligence company it acquired in the 2014 purchase of Clayton Holdings, to Covius Holdings.

The two deals continue a late-year surge of private-label RMBS deal volume totaling $8.37 billion priced since Oct. 1.

For the private-label mortgage-backed securities market to grow, regulators need to focus on collateral management in addition to changes to data disclosure rules.

Lenders have bundled more than $18 billion worth of non-QM, private-label loans into bonds this year that they then sold to investors, a 44% increase from 2018 and the most for any year since the securities became common post-crisis.

Covius Holdings plans to buy several businesses from Chronos Solutions that support mortgage servicing and origination processes, including three delivery platforms that will increase the breadth of its technology offerings.

With prospects for government-sponsored enterprise reform improving, players in the private residential mortgage-backed securities market are starting to think about how they could better compete against the GSEs while awaiting change.

Private-label mortgage securitizations with variable servicing fee arrangements could become more common going forward as issuers look to increase investor cash flow while reducing the loan servicer's economic exposure, Fitch said.

Non-qualified mortgage-backed securities record issuance in the first quarter puts it on pace to top full-year volume predictions, according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Being too dependent on the automated underwriting tools created by the government-sponsored enterprises to originate loans underlying private-label mortgage-backed securitizations could negatively affect their credit quality, a report from Moody's said.

Rising mortgage rates will only be "a mild deterrent" to home purchase activity during 2019 as other indicators like price and demand will cancel that out, according to Standard & Poor's.

The expected decline in conventional mortgage volume may open the door for more non-qualified mortgage lending as secondary market investors seek new opportunities to deploy capital, says Tom Millon, CEO of Capital Markets Cooperative.

Liquidity, products and pricing are the main concerns for the secondary mortgage market in 2019.

Private-label residential mortgage-backed securitization is approaching a post-crisis high, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

Although forecasts anticipate a continuing drop in overall originations, private-label residential mortgage-backed securitizations backed by newer loans are expected to keep increasing through next year, according to Bank of America.

Rating agencies are sparring over a new feature in a private-label RMBS that upends the relationship between senior and sub bondholders.

Wells Fargo’s first private-label mortgage securitization since the financial crisis doesn’t break any new ground — and that’s probably the point.

Finance of America Reverse is offering a new second-lien alternative to the Federal Housing Administration's Home Equity Conversion Mortgage that can be placed on a property with a pre-existing first-lien loan.

New Penn Financial has launched a condo loan program that features more flexible property restrictions than what's allowed under Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines.

The dollar volume of private-label residential mortgage-backed securities issuance this year is the highest it has been since the Great Recession, despite a decline in new originations.

New investor appetite for mortgages over $1 million is motivating more nonbank lenders to offer super jumbo loans, often with weaker credit terms than traditional banks.