HomeStreet selling Ginnie Mae mortgage servicing rights

A HomeStreet Inc. division is shedding Ginnie Mae mortgage servicing rights ahead of the parent company’s merger with Mechanics Bank, which has not been active as an MSR investor.

The Seattle-based HomeStreet Bank has agreed to sell the portfolio on Aug. 1. It had a principal balance of $794 million as of June 30. The merger with Mechanics is set to close in the current fiscal quarter, which ends Sept. 30.

HomeStreet’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission does not specify the buyer, price or loan type. It does indicate that the purchaser is an experienced servicer that has worked with Ginnie, making it possible a nonbank is buying the assets, in line with larger trends. 

A sale amid heightened nonbank competition for MSRs

HomeStreet did sell other assets to a bank recently…