Mortgage applications slipped 0.3% from one week earlier, as refinance volume, particularly for Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Affairs loans, shrank significantly, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility was brought back to inject $100 billion into the pandemic-battered economy, but only a fraction has been disbursed. Yet experts, pointing to its calming effects on markets, recommend that it be extended into next year.

Stimulus and regulatory actions are the main ways in which government policy in the wake of the elections will impact structured finance, according to Fitch Ratings. The degree to which they are affected will depend heavily on Georgia runoff elections Jan. 5.

Three major commercial mortgage lenders have teamed up again this year to securitize $871 million in properties in a CMBS deal that provides investors with a highly concentrated loan pool and higher leverage.

The franchisor and operator of restaurants under the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s brands, CKE Holdings priced a $400 million transaction below pricing guidance that slightly increases the private-equity-held company’s leverage.

Educational Credit Management Corp. is issuing its third securitization since the start of the pandemic that is collateralized entirely by Federal Family Education Loan Program rehabilitated loans but still carries a negative outlook from Fitch Ratings.

Rates could be 50 basis points steeper than the MBA’s current projections, which anticipate the 30-year mortgage will average 3.3% next year, up from nearly 3% this year.

Lenders also increased jumbo product availability as well as rolling out new SOFR-indexed ARMs.

Deals, trends and research in structured finance and asset-backed securities for the week of Nov. 6-12

There have been several extensions of the policy since it was put into place as a way to sustain originations amid a wave of forbearance allocated to borrowers with government-related loans.

Freddie Mac representatives would not comment on the sudden resignation of Brickman. Interim CEO Michael Hutchins has served as Freddie’s executive vice president of investments and capital markets since January 2015.

The sector’s leaders are hoping for better in 2021, while not forgetting lessons learned about the market’s risks in 2020.