Other firms had more of a jumbo focus. Second-ranked PHH Mortgage reported that 50.0 percent of its originations in 2013 were non-agency jumbos.

A number of lenders said they have put an increased emphasis on jumbo ARMs due to the rise in interest rates that started in May of 2013.

Not only is the spring home buying season beginning to show signs of life, so too is the M&A market for mortgage companies.

When conflicts of interest were unearthed, Aurora terminated the contract in 2012, leaving $28 million in unpaid bills. But Allonhill wanted its money.

FHA lenders reported $8.7 billion in new originations in January, down from $10.9 billion in December and $23.7 billion from a year ago. Most were fixed-rate mortgages and 77.1 percent were purchase transactions.

The mortgage market has gradually shifted upstream since the collapse of the housing market and the painstakingly slow recovery, with big-ticket mortgages capturing a growing share of new originations, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. Mortgages exceeding the traditional conventional loan limit of $417,000 accounted for 19.8 percent of new originations in 2013, up from 16.2 percent during the previous year. And with overall mortgage-production volume slumping over the second half of 2013, the jumbo share of new originations rose to 23.3 percent in the fourth quarter. The secondary-market agencies accounted...[Includes three data charts]

It’s been a busy quarter for sales of mortgage servicing rights, but most of them have involved portfolios of $2 billion or less, spurring talk in the industry that regulatory oversight of MSR transfers is affecting the mergers and acquisition market. In particular, dealmakers are starting to call it the “Lawsky Effect,” named after Benjamin Lawsky, the superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services who in early February put a “hold” on Wells Fargo’s sale of $39 billion in MSRs to Ocwen Financial. Lawsky has stated his concerns about Ocwen’s fast growth, its capacity to take on massive new assignments and complaints about some of its servicing practices. “I have not heard...

Bank and thrift holdings of adjustable-rate mortgages have increased significantly in recent years, according to an analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance, driven in part by originations of jumbo mortgages. Banks and thrifts held $647.42 billion in ARMs in portfolio as of the end of 2013, according to call-report data. The total ARM portfolio increased by 0.7 percent last year, the third annual increase in a row, while the aggregate bank and thrift retained portfolio of first-lien mortgages fell 3.0 percent. ARMs accounted for 37.1 percent of the bank/thrift mortgage portfolio at the end of 2013, compared to just 31.9 percent at the end of 2011. Lenders have to keep generating...[Includes two data charts]

If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are eventually liquidated, the federal government could reap between $170 billion and $234 billion in net proceeds, according to a new audit of the firms, but that doesn’t mean the junior preferred stockholders in the two will see a dime of that money. The newly released Johnson-Crapo mortgage finance reform bill provides no relief to investors in the junior preferred or owners of common stock in the two government-sponsored enterprises, leaving all liquidation proceeds to the U.S. Treasury, which owns the senior preferred shares. Over the past 18 months, several high-profile private-equity firms – Fairholme Capital, Pershing Square and Perry Capital, to name a few – have invested...

The private mortgage-insurance industry said it is pleased that the bipartisan agreement between Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Ranking Minority Member Michael Crapo, R-ID, on housing finance reform recognizes the important role of private MI. The newly launched U.S. Mortgage Insurers said it supports Congress’ efforts to achieve housing finance reform, all of which recognize the importance of and the need for standard MI coverage on loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Privately, MIs say...