Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw a 27.2 percent surge in refinance business during the fourth quarter that helped offset an 8.3 percent drop in purchase-mortgage acquisitions, according to an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of mortgage-backed securities data. The wholesale-broker channel recorded a 7.4 percent increase in production during the fourth quarter, compared to smaller increases in retail (2.6 percent) and correspondent (6.0 percent) ... [Includes one data chart]

The nonbank share of agency servicing grew by 4.7 percentage points during 2017.

Authoritative numbers on the size of the non-QM space are difficult to come by.

Watt and his staff do not want taxpayers to foot the bill for failing mortgage guarantors…

The first RFI from the CFPB will be on Civil Investigative Demands, which are issued during an enforcement investigation.

Most of the mortgages in the MBS were underwritten with full documentation…

Nonbanks will likely account for over half of outstanding agency single-family servicing by the end of 2018 if market trends continue as they have in recent years.

Guild Mortgage, which ranks 21st among all home lenders, has agreed to purchase Cornerstone Mortgage, St. Louis, marking the first acquisition of 2018, a year in which the rollup of smaller lending shops could be significant.

As a group, the largest bank mortgage lenders began reporting sagging mortgage originations in the fourth quarter, though the drop was hardly a disaster.

The recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was pitched as a simplification of the tax code. And while the bill could ultimately reduce some tax-related complexities, lenders are facing sweeping changes this year.