First-lien mortgage originations were up across all product lines in the second quarter of 2018, but the jumbo market saw the biggest gains from the first three months of the year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and market analysis.

Jumbo mortgage originations rose 33.5 percent to an estimated $80.0 billion during the second quarter. While that was nearly double the growth rate in the overall market, the jumbo sector was still off 6.6 percent compared to 2017 on a year-to-date basis.

Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America were the top producers of jumbo loans in the second quarter, with $31.0 billion in combined originations – or 38.7 percent of the total market.

Conventional-conforming loans continue to rank as the biggest product sector, with a 57.3 percent share of second-quarter originations. Volume was up 15.4 percent from the first quarter to an estimated $255.0 billion in the most recent period. And conventional-conforming originations were up 4.2 percent from the first half of 2017.

Wells, Quicken Loans and Chase ranked as the top conventional-conforming lenders with an estimated $60.4 billion in second-quarter volume.

The only other market sector that has grown since the first half of last year is the expanded-credit category. Originations are still relatively low, but volume has been building and more lenders are reporting involvement in the space.

The government-insured market was a little squishy. Total originations were up 11.2 percent from the first to the second quarter, but year-to-date volume was down 12.6 percent from the first half of last year.

The FHA and VA mortgage insurance programs rely more on refinance business than does the conventional-conforming market. While FHA purchase-loan endorsements rose 19.7 percent from the first to the second quarter, FHA refi volume fell 29.9 percent over that period, including a huge 41.3 percent drop in FHA-to-FHA transactions. The result was a modest 5.4 percent increase in total FHA forward-mortgage endorsements.

The picture was similar in the VA program. Total refi volume was down 7.0 percent in the second quarter, mostly because of the 42.8 percent nosedive in Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan business. Cash-out VA refis were actually up and the purchase side saw a robust 60.3 percent jump from the first quarter.

Overall, refinance loans accounted for just 27.0 percent of first-lien originations in the second quarter, and volume was down 21.1 percent from the previous period. The purchase-mortgage side generated an estimated $325.0 billion in new business, and year-to-date volume was up 4.9 percent from the same period last year.