Inside Mortgage Finance recently revised its product mix estimates to reflect a larger volume of home-equity loans originated during the first nine months of 2013. We also made...[Includes one data chart]

Mortgage lenders large and small have indicated they plan to stay away from making mortgages that do not fit into either the “safe harbor” or the “rebuttable presumption” QM boxes.

According to the bank’s fourth quarter earnings statement, 68 percent of its originations were refis – the mirror image of Wells Fargo, which had 68 percent of its production in purchase-money loans.

It may be time for the mortgage industry to take a chill-pill: applications are on the rise again, rates have stabilized and some firms are actually hiring loan officers.

Waiting for a revival in jumbo MBS issuance is like waiting for Godot.

On a sequential basis, the origination results look slightly better: a 38 percent decline compared to the third quarter of 2013 for Wells and a 42 percent downdraft for JPM. Both have laid off thousands of mortgage workers over the few quarters.

The MBA suggested the CFPB increase the "rebuttable presumption" threshold from 150 basis points above the average prime offer rate to 250 basis points so more borrowers with less-than-perfect credit can benefit.

As expected, the Mortgage Bankers Association this week lowered its 2014 origination forecast to $1.12 trillion, a $57 billion decrease from its previous estimate. Word of the reduction was making the rounds last week.

The megabanks no longer have a total "lock" on the MBS issuance market. But is this trend short-lived?

However, the greatest earnings impact could fall on such mid-sized mortgage firms as PHH Corp., Redwood Trust, and PennyMac Financial Services.