The great mortgage origination correction of 2023 hasn’t resulted in a whole lot of company franchises changing hands. But there’s been a ton of MSR sales and some branch networks finding new owners.

With employee counts shrinking and Wells Fargo exiting the correspondent channel, lenders reported an increase in margins in the second quarter.

Some industry stakeholders are portraying the proposed capital requirements on mortgage assets as an existential threat, one that might indirectly hurt independent nonbanks. But perhaps those fears are overblown.

Banks are in cost-cutting mode as high interest rates and looming changes to capital requirements have led to uncertainty in the mortgage market.

The rate of appraisals in high minority census tracts that were below the final contract price has fallen post the creation of the PAVE task force.

The proposal would change risk weights for mortgages in bank portfolios based on LTV ratios. Close to 20% of mortgages not sold by banks in 2022 had LTV ratios for which higher capital requirements would apply.

As the CFPB reassesses its loan originator compensation rules, it took novel actions against lenders for LO comp practices.

Fannie and Freddie both shifted from a provision for losses in the first quarter to a benefit in the second. Almost all of that improvement took place in the enterprises’ single-family businesses.

A proposal floated by federal regulators seeks to base capital requirements for mortgages held in portfolio at big banks on loan-to-value ratios. Banks expressed grave concerns about the proposal.

Most top lenders reported substantial increases in first-lien originations during the second quarter. But the rebound in production doesn't appear to have lifted mortgage banking income much. (Includes two data charts.)