All three mortgage-production channels saw significant declines in volume during the fourth quarter of 2015, but the retail business fared significantly better, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Correspondent production fell 25.5 percent from the third to the fourth quarter of last year, compared to the overall 15.4 percent drop in mortgage originations over that period. The correspondent channel typically yields a higher share of purchase mortgages than either retail or wholesale-broker production, so it was relatively more impacted by the decline in purchase-mortgage lending. Still, correspondent production for all of 2015 was...[Includes four data tables]