In the first quarter, the top sequential gainers were all nonbanks: loanDepot (up 50.6 percent), Caliber Home Loans (46.2 percent) and Stearns Lending (22.6 percent.)

Among the standouts in nonbank MSR growth: Seneca Mortgage, Pingora and RoundPoint...

The megabanks still report broker production in their loan sales figures, but most of the activity involves seasoned loans.

Many lenders reported the pleasant confluence of rising origination volume and stronger gain-on-sale margins.

For the most part, jumbo MBS issuance has been weak (though improving), but the ABS market has been on fire...

Most of the slack is being taken up by nonbanks, which serviced $1.571 trillion of agency MBS at March 31.

The trend reflects the surge in VA home loan originations over the past few years at a time when the FHA has lost market share to private mortgage insurers.

In the jumbo MBS sector, mortgage firms issued $4.60 billion of bonds in 1Q, a hefty 20.3 percent increase from 4Q and more than triple the volume posed during the first three months of 2014.

The steadily declining average loan-to-value ratio on PMI-covered refinances reflects dwindling production in the HARP program.

Credit unions now lay claim to almost 10 percent of the residential lending market.