Originations of higher-priced conventional mortgages increased by 20.1 percent on an annual basis to $36.01 billion in 2017, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets of data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Higher-priced mortgages are loans that have an annual percentage rate higher than a threshold for the “average prime offer rate” on a comparable mortgage. First-lien mortgages with an APR ... [Includes two data charts]