Impac Mortgage (IMH) has secured a buyer for its new non-QM mortgage products, exclusively selling its Alternative QM originations to Macquarie Group, which will provide funding for the program.
In July, the mortgage company announced it was breaking into the non-QM market, offering four new products: Alt-QM Jumbo, Alt-QM Agency, Alt-QM Income and Alt-QM Investor.
But Impac is not new to the non-agency space. “We think this market is very similar to what we saw in 1995 when we first created Alt-A loans, and subsequently originated to $90 billion in that product from 1995-2007,” Bill Ashmore, president of Impac Mortgage, said.
Meanwhile, Macquarie also has extensive industry experience and an established track record in credit markets and mortgage finance.
“There is a tremendous opportunity in the mortgage market today to provide borrowers with a product that has previously been unavailable to them. Our successful history originating this type of product, combined with our relationship with Macquarie, will allow Impac to make an immediate impact in the non-qualified mortgage space,” Joseph Tomkinson, Chairman and CEO of Impac said.
More lenders are starting to dabble in non-QM lending since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Qualified Mortgage requirements went into effect in January.
"Growth in the non-conforming market is needed since there is little new product development taking place with the agencies," said Chris Garagusi, vice president of mortgage capital markets product manager at BOK Financial Mortgage (BOKF).
There is currently $50 billion estimated in non-QM volume origination a year, which should create a significant net demand for private label mortgage-backed securities and whole loans, according to Ying Shen and Richard Mele, research analysts with Deutsche Bank (DB).
