“Mortgage lenders benefited from multiple refinance rallies over the last nine months, but we don’t expect another in 2026,” said Eric Orenstein, a senior director at Fitch Ratings.
After a boomlet in April, Ginnie issuance declined a bit in May. Refi volume declined, while issuance involving purchase mortgages ticked up thanks to spring homebuying. (Includes two data tables.)
A group of 30 major servicers handled an estimated $1.44 trillion of jumbo mortgages at the end of March, a 1.0% increase on a quarterly basis. (Includes one data table.)
Annaly Capital Management slipped to second in REIT agency MBS investors as it diversifies into MSR and non-agency. AGNC Investment rose to the top, focused almost exclusively on agency MBS. (Includes two data tables.)
Analysts at Bank of America Global Research suggest that proposed changes to regulatory capital requirements could spur more bank CLO investment. (Includes one data table.)
Originations of jumbo mortgages increased by 50% on an annual basis in the first quarter of 2026. The bulk of the volume is in non-agency jumbos, with the conforming jumbo sector also holding up. (Includes three data tables.)
Relatively strong refinance activity helped dampen growth in outstanding agency single-family MBS during the first quarter, but non-agency MBS posted its biggest increase in years. (Includes two data tables.)
Urban Institute researchers say the mortgage industry will experience slightly better capital treatment as a result of the changes to the Basel III Endgame, but they recommend some improvements.
The correspondent channel accounted for 19.3% of nonconforming originations in the first quarter of 2026, up from 16.7% in the previous three-month period. (Includes two data tables.)
Although the growth curve flattened a bit in 2025, production of loans with terms of two years or less increased by 15% last year. (Includes one data table.)
In a joint comment letter, a dozen trade groups said the FCC’s proposed restrictions on foreign call centers are unnecessary because existing federal laws already impose “extensive” consumer protection, privacy and data security obligations on financial services providers.
Earnings were down compared with both the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2025. Some of the biggest banks don’t have particularly high hopes for their mortgage businesses this year. (Includes one data table.)
Guild Mortgage Company and Movement Mortgage both saw successful first quarters in home equity conversion mortgage lending that led them to gain market share from other top HECM lenders. (Includes three data tables.)
The upper ranks of FHA management have been thinned out by resignations over the last year, and the Senate’s on crunch time until midterms, meaning there’s a chance Ginnie Mae president Joe Gormley could be helming both agencies for a while.
Provisions designed to increase borrower awareness of the availability of home loans backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs remain in an expansive housing bill that Congress could pass as soon as next week. The MBA has expressed operational concerns.
The correspondent channel accounted for 19.3% of nonconforming originations in the first quarter of 2026, up from 16.7% in the previous three-month period. (Includes two data tables.)
Relatively strong refinance activity helped dampen growth in outstanding agency single-family MBS during the first quarter, but non-agency MBS posted its biggest increase in years. (Includes two data tables.)
More than two-thirds of the largest GSE sellers saw a sequential decline in deliveries in May, with refi business slowing. But overall volume for the first five months of the year was up 35.7%. (Includes two data tables.)
Guild Mortgage Company and Movement Mortgage both saw successful first quarters in home equity conversion mortgage lending that led them to gain market share from other top HECM lenders. (Includes three data tables.)
More than two-thirds of the largest GSE sellers saw a sequential decline in deliveries in May, with refi business slowing. But overall volume for the first five months of the year was up 35.7%. (Includes two data tables.)
A 50% cap on debt-to-income ratio within Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter acts as an extra-regulatory limit on credit availability, according to researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.