The sale of mortgages by banks took it on the chin in the first quarter. Lower originations is one explanation but are banks keeping more of their own production?

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.