“We didn’t observe any meaningful change in purchase loan application trends compared to earlier years,” said Archana Pradhan of CoreLogic.

One former loanDepot official had this to say about the rumor: “It makes sense. loanDepot has plenty of loan officers handling inbound leads. Amazon could create a ton more and compete with Quicken….”

Secondary mortgage market activity cooled dramatically in the first quarter of 2018, according to bank call report data analyzed by Inside Mortgage Trends. [Includes one data chart.]

Mortgage banking operations generally lost money on loan production during the first quarter of 2018 but managed to more than make it up with positive servicing results, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association quarterly performance report.

Movement Mortgage is bypassing the traditional mortgage tech-development process in its quest for a mobile operating system for loan officers. The nonbank retail lender recently launched a crowdsourcing challenge, inviting 10 firms to develop prototypes with the chance to win a $25,000 prize and fully develop the operating system.

Mortgage vendor Mortech recently launched a tool that can help lenders and servicers identify borrowers who are likely to list their homes for sale within the next 90 days. The vendor is owned and operated by Zillow Group, a company best known for its individualized home-price estimates.

Ten years ago, as the nation’s housing market began to hit the skids, Wells Fargo ruled the lending roost with JPMorgan not too far behind. Today, in terms of origination rank, the top dogs still dominate the origination business, but their grip on the totem pole is tenuous at best.

Ginnie Mae is considering three possible initiatives that would meet issuers’ needs that are not fully accommodated under its mortgage-backed securities program.

Lenders have become even more pessimistic about profitability and consumer demand for mortgage credit, according to Fannie Mae’s most recent lender sentiment survey.

Commercial banks and thrifts repurchased $732.9 million of single-family mortgages during the first quarter of 2018, a 6.9 percent decline from the previous period, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call report data. [Includes one data chart.]