With heavy refinance activity feeding a strong increase in mortgage originations during 2012, lenders last year relied more heavily on their in-house capacity than ever before. A new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis shows that lenders generated a whopping $1.101 trillion in new originations through their retail production efforts, including both consumer-direct lending and traditional brick-and-mortar branches. That was up 29.2 percent from total retail originations back in 2011 and it represented a record 60.0 percent of total production for last year. The fact that the retail share of new originations held...[Includes four data charts]

FHA late payments are on the rise again.

Fiscal 2012 turned out to be a stellar year for the Department of Veterans Affairs Home Loan Guaranty program with $119.23 billion in total loan volume, thanks largely to surging streamlined VA refinancing as well as conversions from FHA and conventional loans. A total of 539,884 new single-family mortgage loans with a VA guaranty were originated in 2012, up 59.12 percent from the prior fiscal year, according to the latest VA data. VA originations have been trending upward since 2010, when the agency reported $65.05 billion in new originations. Volume was largely driven...

Redwood is in the market with a new jumbo deal, this one with loans that have little in the way of seasoning.

PowerLink Settlement, a service provider and appraisal management joint venture controlled by Fidelity National Financial and Homeward Residential, is shutting its doors.

IsZo Capital Management increases stake in Impac Mortgage.

HSBC is planning a large nonperforming mortgage auction that could happen early in the second quarter.

Lenders are looking at guaranty fee hikes of 50 basis points this year - maybe.

Walter Investment is buying the residential origination platform of Ally Bank for next to nothing.

If Wells Fargo sells MSRs more investment vehicles dedicated to servicing rights may spring up.