With interest rates dropping in recent weeks, some mortgage observers say there’s a chance that the refi market could rebound.

And it doesn't appear that Millennials are willing to give you much to save for a mortgage downpayment either.

While lenders affiliated with homebuilders tend to lend to riskier borrowers than other originators, their mortgages actually perform better, according to new research published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The researchers suggest that the stronger performance is related to the hands-on nature of homebuilder lending, among other factors. The Chicago Fed published the findings in a study authored by Sumit Agarwal, Gene Amromin, Claudine Gartenberg, Anna Paulson and Sriram Villupuram, who note that their findings run counter to assumptions about the quality of builder-affiliate originations. “At first glance, the allegations of the nefarious role played by the homebuilders in the crisis are consistent...

Lenders that upstream product to the megabanks through correspondent loan sales are beginning to worry that because profits were so weak during the first quarter – or nonexistent – they might be cut off as sellers. Moreover, lenders fret that some of the largest players might shut the door on them for a different reason: they can’t deliver enough volume in an origination-challenged market. Speculation has focused...

"The ECB has a real problem on its hands," said Barry Habib, who runs MBS Highway, an analytics firm that offers lenders advice on when to lock rates.

Individual accountability is the regulatory catchphrase of the moment not only at the CFPB but at the Securities and Exchange Commission and state regulatory agencies as well.

Some in the industry are concerned that HAMP interest-rate resets, which begin later this year, could cause defaults on modified loans to increase, lowering the number of successful modifications under the program.

“We have a lot of plans,” Newman told IMFnews. “We plan to be in originations, servicing, capital markets and multi-channel production.”

Western Asset Management has a "ton of fire power" when it comes to buying non-agency mortgages, said one source.

Zach Oppenheimer, a senior vice president at Fannie Mae, said it’s a positive development that more private capital is coming into the mortgage servicing space.