Secondary markets

Whether Ginnie issuance increases in the future may depend in part on the extent to which the Biden administration wishes to tap the FHA to promote affordable housing and homeownership.

Even government-sponsored enterprise loans, which have seen forbearance rates drop for 24 weeks in a row, saw a slight uptick.

The Structured Finance Association fears Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin may release the government-sponsored enterprises from conservatorship ahead of the change in administration, and that doing so could disrupt the mortgage-backed securities market.

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.

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

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.

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

FHA volumes, a key contributor to Ginnie Mae issuance, could fall as long as the refinancing boom continues — unless the FHA takes a step that could reverse that trend.

How we resolve millions of delinquent mortgages due to COVID is the only question that matters.

The recent decrease in the rate at which current loans became impaired could further encourage the cautious return of the non-QM market currently underway.

The restrictions on the pooling of loans with any interest term based on Libor will be effective for traditional mortgage-backed securities issued starting Jan. 21, 2021, and earlier for reverse-mortgage securitizations.

Bondholders could see principal losses if, due to the way the documents are worded, the rate is frozen at the last published amount.

Electronic notes did come in handy this year given the mortgage industry's need to operate remotely, but they also increase the government-sponsored enterprises' responsibility for monitoring the risk of multiple counterparties.

Also the Federal Housing Administration, which is a key contributor of government-insured loans to Ginnie securitizations, recently set new conditions on mortgage applicants that have been in forbearance.

The pandemic drives home the point that without those funds being siphoned off, the recent fee hikes would not be necessary.

Ginnie Mae helped to fund more than $70 billion in loans aimed at helping low- and moderate-income borrowers in July.

The mortgage servicing rights package going up for bid adds to signs that the market for large offerings is becoming more active.

From guidelines for remote appraisal alternatives to the ways that forbearance affects borrowers' ability to get new loans, here are five examples of mortgage requirements that have been in flux since the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.

The mortgage REIT's external manager responded by filing a new lawsuit against it, calling the move "baseless and retaliatory."

The measures currently ensuring mortgage companies have sufficient cash to cover advances aren't necessarily sustainable, warns Ted Tozer, a senior fellow at the Milken Institute and a former government official.