The most profitable business for Fannie and Freddie is loans with high credit scores and LTV ratios of 60 percent or less.

The home-equity origination market rebounded somewhat during 2013, but none of these loans are winding up in new securities.

Declining mortgage debt is good news for consumers, but not-so-good news for lenders. Then again, this trend can't last. Or can it?

The agency MBS market did grow by a slight 0.1 percent during the first quarter, but all of the credit goes to Ginnie Mae.

However, two of the largest home-equity lenders – Bank of America and Chase – both reported modest increases in production during the first quarter, up 3.1 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

Although the Wells Fargo-Ocwen MSR transfer is still on hold, other institutions continue to trim their mortgage servicing portfolios.

Bank of America continued to report the largest volume of repurchases with $261 million in the first quarter.

It was also the lowest three-month volume since the fourth quarter of 2008, not long after dramatically higher “emergency” loan limits were put in place by the agencies.

American Capital Agency Corp., the second-largest REIT MBS investor, reported a sharp 14.6 percent drop in its holdings during the first quarter. But officials are upbeat about the future.

With interest rates dropping in recent weeks, some mortgage observers say there’s a chance that the refi market could rebound.