Just How Dead Is the Private-Label MBS Market?

Pretty darn dead.  In 2014, there were all of 22 private-label RMBS deals.  These deals provided $5.67 billion in financing for 7,342 mortgages.  Let that sink in for a second.  The private-label market financed fewer home mortgages than were made in the District of Columbia last year.  

Perhaps the private-label market's defenders will finally accept that it is a seriously broken market and that fixing it isn't just a matter of interest rates moving a few basis points. This is a market that needs to take major steps to restore investor confidence, and that means, among other things, a total redesign of servicing/trustee compensation structures and roles and a major standardization of deal documentation so that investors won't have to worry about what language got snuck in on page 73 of a 120 page indenture.