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.

Meanwhile, Ginnie Mae securities posted a pocket-sized increase within the Federal Home Loan Bank system during the period ending Sept. 30, 2013.

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

The GSEs' largesse is gaining new attention in Washington with the news that the two helped the U.S. government post a budget surplus of $53 billion in December.

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

MSR sales, in general, are expected to be brisk in the first quarter as lenders sell receivables to make up for declining originations.

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

We continue to hear reports that Walter Investment Management is talking to a fairly large nonbank about a possible acquisition.

It is not a matter of “if” or even “when” but rather “how” the remaining defendants settle lawsuits filed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency over billions in non-agency MBS sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the years leading up to the housing crisis. Last week, the FHFA announced it recovered $7.88 billion in civil settlements in 2013 from seven of the 18 defendants the agency took to court in 2011. Eleven firms have yet to settle, with Bank of America facing the largest exposure because of its ownership of Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch, two of the largest issuers in the now-defunct subprime MBS market. In its original claim, the conservator of Fannie and Freddie accused...[Includes one data chart]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it recovered $7.88 billion in civil settlements in 2013 from less than half of the 18 defendants it is suing over billions of dollars in losses from toxic non-agency mortgage-backed securities sold to the GSEs before the housing crisis. Seven of the big banks made deals with Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s conservator to get out from under the massive MBS litigation effort launched by the FHFA in 2011.