Home-equity lending increased sharply last year, hitting its highest level in new originations since 2009, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. Lenders originated an estimated $60.0 billion in home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages in 2013, up 36.4 percent from the previous year. That still represented only 3.2 percent of total residential mortgage production, but it was the only sector other than jumbo to show a gain from 2012 levels. Despite the improved home-equity originations, the supply of home-equity debt in the market continued...[Includes three data charts]

The top three HEL lenders in the market – Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase – originated a combined $17.8 billion in home-equity loans last year, but they still saw a $32.1 billion decline in their total holdings of HELOCs and closed-end seconds.

Fannie and Freddie issued $44.6 billion of single-family MBS in February, a 5.1 percent decline from January and a stunning 62.0 percent drop for the first two months of 2014 when compared to the same period in 2013.

The government’s plan to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is wrongheaded and would result in lower housing prices, economic harm and higher unemployment. So says well-regarded bank analyst Richard Bove of Rafferty Capital Markets.

In a recent interview with IMFnews, Carrington Executive Vice President Ray Brousseau stressed that the privately held nonbank will carefully and manually underwrite the loans, which will be sourced through loan brokers.

Addressing CFPB officials at the American Bankers Association’s government relations conference in Washington, one community banker from Oklahoma reported survey findings that one-third of respondents in the state are no longer offering residential mortgages.

The extended time on market for short sales does not appear to be due to a lack of demand, as short sales completed in February averaged 3.1 offers, based on a three-month moving average.

One executive familiar with PHH Mortgage said he anticipates that other senior officers may leave shortly. The firm's departing CAO was with the lender for just over a year.

Little else is known about Commerce. The press statement notes that the lender has a “vision of moving forward with a reviving market by offering products backed by a team of professionals with the upmost integrity and knowledge of the industry.”

CFPB watchers say the bureau’s broad examination authority and a database of more than 300,000 consumer complaints will provide a fertile pipeline for enforcement actions going forward.