As a group, the 45 companies that ranked sixth through 50th had a combined portfolio of $1.668 trillion, equal to 37.5 percent of the market.

Kingstown's big bet on Ocwen Financial is looking shaky these days...

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee concluded its regularly scheduled meeting earlier this week and, to no one’s surprise, decided yet again to keep its interest rate powder dry for the time being. The people who parse FOMC statements for a living derived some nuanced significance from a few wording changes, but are split on whether and when there will be an increase this year. The Fed noted that labor market conditions have improved further even as growth in economic activity appears to have slowed. “Growth in household spending has moderated, although households’ real income has risen at a solid rate and consumer sentiment remains high,” said the U.S. central bank. “Since the beginning of the year, the housing sector has improved further but business fixed investment and net exports have been soft.” Meanwhile, inflation has continued...

Impac's residential servicing portfolio increased by 45 percent on a sequential basis to an unpaid principal balance of $5.2 billion.

Chase continues to retain large amounts of conforming mortgages in portfolio...

Although many banks wrestled with hedges for their mortgage servicing rights and loan production was generally down, the industry posted a solid increase in mortgage-banking earnings in the first quarter. A new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of earnings reports filed by 26 major banks showed a combined $3.450 billion in mortgage-banking income during the first quarter. That was up 12.3 percent from their fourth-quarter earnings of ... [Includes one data chart]

Declining interest rates introduced considerable uncertainty into the valuation of mortgage servicing rights during the first quarter of 2016, leading to a decline in bulk transfers of agency MSR, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis. Bulk sales of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae servicing rights totaled just $36.16 billion during the first three months of this year, a 37.2 percent drop from the fourth quarter of 2015. That was down ... [Includes one data chart]

An increasing number of financial institutions with a vested interest in mortgage servicing rights are showing a renewed interest in hedging against declining interest rates – something you might think they would already be doing. “You’d be surprised at who’s not hedging,” said Austin Tilghman, senior vice president of United Capital Markets, Denver. “Some mid-sized nonbanks just don’t get it.” Tilghman knows quite a bit about firms – banks included – that don’t ...

The funding models used by prominent nonbank servicers subject the firms to significant risks, according to Moody’s Investors Service, which predicted that the companies’ profitability will improve only marginally in 2016. The Moody’s analysis focused on Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial and Walter Investment Management. “All three nonbank servicers’ reliance on confidence-sensitive, short-term funding heightens their liquidity and refinancing risk,” said Warren Kornfeld ...

Many borrowers who apply for a mortgage with a partner miss out on lower interest rates due to lenders’ standards regarding credit scores, according to research by economists at the Federal Reserve. Applying for a mortgage solo can lead to substantial cost savings, though determining whether to take that option can be complicated. Geng Li, Weifeng Wu, and Vincent Yao detailed their findings in a FEDS Notes article published by the Fed. The analysis was based on ...