There is a growing demand from investors to enter the market of privately financed mortgages as a promising asset class. With banks increasingly declining mortgages, individuals have noticed the opportunity and have opened their savings to be able to back mortgages and reap nice annual returns. For now, it seems regulation isn't raining down on the parade just yet, but it's likely that the regulator will start diving into the private funding of mortgages in order to make sure borrowers are kept safe. It'll be interesting to see how big this market will get to by end of 2016 and if asset managers will start offering these opportunities to their clients as well.
Many private lenders issue too few mortgage loans to be closely watched in the patchwork of state and federal oversight that bind banks and other larger financial institutions. They nonetheless must register with their states at a minimum. The oversight is supposed to make sure lenders don’t mislead investors or engage in deceptive practices.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/private-lenders-remodel-the-mortgage-market-1462984898