Mortgage lenders originated an estimated $17 billion in new home-equity loans during the second quarter of 2014, a 30.8 percent increase from the previous period, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. But the volume of outstanding home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages held in portfolio by depository institutions – the biggest players in the HEL market – continued to dwindle. Banks, thrifts and credit unions reported a total of $540.4 billion of HELOCs on their books at the end of June, down 0.9 percent from March, along with a 1.5 percent drop in closed-end seconds. It continued...[Includes three data charts]

In the second quarter, Altisource Residential agreed to buy 4,374 nonperforming mortgages that carry an underlying collateral value of $1.23 billion.

Although 114 servicing workers are losing their jobs in Nebraska, the lender/servicer will add as many servicing positions in the Dallas area over the next six months.

The senior tranche on the Chase jumbo deal has credit enhancement of 9.90 percent.

Investors have been scratching their heads over the downdraft at Walter/Green Tree...

The merger-hungry RPM Mortgage of California is the top contributor to the jumbo MBS with a 14.3 percent share.

While higher-priced lending is on the rise, pricing on these originations isn’t nearly as high as it was in the subprime boom.

Fitch does not single out any servicers by name, but it’s common knowledge that both Ocwen Financial and Nationstar Mortgage have thousands of servicing-related workers housed in India...

The Wells-Ocwen MSR deal is still waiting for Lawsky's green light. But when that will come is another matter...

Five Oaks plans to buy some of the subordinate tranches of the new jumbo MBS.