Servicing of FHA loans pooled into Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities rose 2.1 percent in the third quarter of 2015. Three megabanks in the top five-servicer tier accounted for a significant share of the market. Ginnie Mae servicers of FHA collateral reported $969.0 billion outstanding at Sept. 30, with Wells Fargo accounting for 27.9 percent of total servicing volume. Wells Fargo, Chase Home Finance (#2) and Bank of America (#5) combined to service 39.3 percent of FHA outstanding as of the end of the quarter. PennyMac Corp. closed the quarter with a $57.7 billion FHA servicing portfolio, good enough for third place and 6.0 percent of the market. Fourth-ranked NationStar Mortgage reported a $53.6 billion servicing portfolio at the end of the ... [ 1 chart ]

Mortgage production ran into a seasonal buzz-kill and stiffer headwinds from interest rates during the third quarter of 2015, leading to a modest decline in volume, according to a new InsideMortgage Finance market analysis and ranking. An estimated $455.0 billion of single-family first-lien mortgages were originated during the third quarter, down 7.1 percent from the second quarter of 2015. But on a year-to-date basis, total originations were up 42.9 percent from the first nine months of last year. In fact, at $1.350 trillion, production through the end of September had already topped last year’s $1.300 trillion. A lot of this year’s increase came...[Includes two data tables]

Although most analysts and industry observers agree that the FHA cut in mortgage insurance premiums, effective in January, has resulted in stronger purchase volumes and credit availability, opinions vary as to whether another reduction is on the way. The FY 2014 independent actuarial audit of the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund projected FHA’s total loan production in fiscal 2015 at $124 billion. With the FHA pricing adjustment, production is now expected to increase by 60 percent, with total production estimated at $200 billion by the end of the fiscal year, said Brian Chappelle, an industry consultant. As program fundamentals trend upward, Chappelle is...

Many independent mortgage companies that are relatively new to the mortgage servicing market are actively managing their portfolios in a constantly shifting environment, according to panelists at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association. The surprisingly cheap cost of retaining mortgage servicing rights during the 2012 bonanza led a number of nonbank lenders to start amassing MSR portfolios. It has become a valuable tool in managing cash flow and earnings in the volatile mortgage production market of recent years. Guild Mortgage is...

Although the FHFA received more than 1,300 comments on proposed changes to its membership rules, it has yet to issue a final regulation.

Meanwhile, the volume of securitized retail loans was down 3.6 percent from the second quarter.

Over the past five quarters, Flagstar has unloaded $25.2 billion of residential servicing rights.

Its captive insurance affiliate, CYS Insurance Services, became a member in the FHLB of Cincinnati in March of this year.

The megabanks – Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and U.S. Bank – ranked first through fourth, respectively, with a combined agency market share of 40.3 percent at Sept. 30.

On a year-to-date basis, new ABS production was down 4.5 percent from the first nine months of 2014.