Rising prices for mortgage servicing rights in the second quarter of 2013 helped lure sellers to a market that continues to see a decline in available product and improving fundamentals. The Federal Reserve this week reported that the long, steady decline in home mortgage debt outstanding – a streak that has now run six and a half years – continued through the midway point in 2013. As of the end of June, home mortgage debt outstanding was down to $9.833 trillion, a 0.4 percent drop from March and a hefty 12.9 percent decline from the all-time high ($11.287 trillion) set back in March 2008. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals...[Includes two data charts]

Here's an odd turn of events: Freddie Mac might bail out Uncle Sam. Meanwhile, the mortgage insurance industry continues to mend.

The House Republic legislation to eliminate the government-sponsored enterprises and replace them with private capital has no chance of passing in the Senate, according to Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN. He said the bipartisan approach he crafted with Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, has a better chance of passing through Congress and maintaining wide availability of 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. “Going to a completely privatized system today to me is not something that has one chance of passing,” Corker said late last week in a conversation with Warner, hosted by Zillow. Corker was referring to H.R. 2767, the Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act, which the House Financial Services Committee approved in July. The bill isn’t on the House’s fall legislative agenda. “What Mark and I have done is...

The number of loans repurchased by lenders from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fell sharply during the second quarter from the record level set during the first three months of 2013, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of repurchase disclosures by the two government-sponsored enterprises. In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the two GSEs reported a total of $2.81 billion of mortgage repurchases during the second quarter, down 78.7 percent from the first quarter of 2013. GSE buybacks hit a record $13.21 billion in the first three months of 2013 as Fannie and Bank of America resolved their dispute over legacy loans sold to the GSE by Countrywide Financial. The settlement also helped wipe out...[Includes one data chart]

Fannie Mae seller/servicers also can dodge the maintenance fee if they have $25 million in Fannie servicing or paid $5,000 in technology fees.

Besides Citi, a handful of large depositories are in the midst of wrapping up sizable MSR auctions this week, including offerings from Wells Fargo and Flagstar Bancorp.

Citadel Servicing CEO Dan Perl said "the phones are ringing like a son-of-a-gun" at his nonprime lending shop.

Loan officers, so far, have been spared the layoff carnage, but that may change depending on where volumes wind up.

The secondary market for mortgage servicing rights continues to spit out new offerings, especially in the bulk arena.

PHH saw its share price spike late last week after rumors spread that it may sell a large block of mortgage servicing rights.