Even in the depths of the financial crisis, the mortgage industry was producing more new loans than it did during the first quarter of 2014, according to new Inside Mortgage Finance estimates. Mortgage lenders generated just $235 billion of new home loans during the first three months of this year. That was down 23.0 percent from the fourth quarter’s estimated $305 billion in originations and it was off 58.0 percent from the first quarter of 2013. It was...[Includes one data chart]