One joke making the rounds in Washington this week: Congress is going on its August vacation. How will we know the difference?

In recent weeks, speculators have been pressing their bets that certain publicly-traded mortgage companies could be in for a world of hurt because origination volumes are likely to remain subdued this year and there is little chance of growth through servicing acquisitions. According to figures compiled by Compass Point Research & Trading and public websites, the two most-shorted mortgage stocks are Nationstar Mortgage and PHH Corp. Measured by the percentage of shares publicly available (known as “float”), Nationstar has...

Non-depository institutions aren’t letting a relatively stagnant mortgage servicing business stop them from continuing to build market share, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking of mortgage servicers at the midway point in 2014. Nonbanks that ranked among the top 30 servicers as of the end of the second quarter serviced an estimated $1.792 trillion of home mortgages, an increase of 12.4 percent over the past year. Depository institutions serviced considerably more – $5.142 trillion – but their aggregate portfolio was down 7.8 percent from the midway point in 2013. The shift to nonbank servicing from the first quarter was...[Includes two data charts]

Not only is Nationstar Mortgage one of the most shorted stocks in the sector, but it seems to be having quite a bit of turnover in the executive suite.

The CEO also noted that the Great Neck, NY-based company has a $7 million warehouse line of credit with Sterling Bank. “That’s an achievement,” he said.

“I don’t see how New York can’t ultimately approve Wells’ sale of servicing to Ocwen,” said one analyst. “I think it’s more a matter of when.”

A formal recorded vote has been requested and at press time was pending before the committee.

Surprise: Two Harbors is preparing a new jumbo MBS deal. It looks like the bond will be issued in early August...

Although only one of the 21 banks (BB&T) posted a net loss on mortgage banking during the second quarter, seven others reported lower profits than they had in the first quarter.

In mid-July senior White House staff, Treasury officials and the staffers from the Council of Economic Advisers met with representatives from a number of industry trade groups to discuss housing finance reform.