Residential loan production is looking up at Bank of America. But can it last?

MGIC is operating with each GSE as an eligible insurer under a remediation plan. In trading Wednesday, its share price was down 9 percent…

Is Jamie Dimon mad at the FHA? Tuesday morning he told analysts that "the real question" is whether the bank should be in the FHA business at all.

Here’s a question to ponder: what does Jamie Dimon like less? Loan brokers or the FHA?

Surprise: most of the growth by nonbanks has been by smaller mortgage bankers.

Citigroup also marked down the asset value of its residential mortgage servicing portfolio to $2.282 billion, a 12 percent decline on a sequential basis.

However, compared to the same quarter a year ago, loan production at Wells took it on the chin, falling a bloodcurdling 59 percent.

The agencies securitized $122 billion of purchase mortgages during the second quarter of this year, a 16.6 percent sequential increase.

A promising surge in purchase-mortgage lending was the key ingredient in the 13.3 percent increase in agency issuance of single-family MBS during the second quarter of 2014, according to a new market analysis and ranking by Inside MBS & ABS. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae issued a total of $212.23 billion of single-family MBS during the second quarter. That was a nice gain from an exceptionally poor $187.38 billion in production during the first three months, but it still marked the second lowest quarterly volume since the beginning of 2005 – and it fell short of the $213.12 billion produced at the low point in the financial crisis at the end of 2008. The agencies securitized...[Includes two data charts]

The Home Affordable Refinance Program has nearly reached the practical limit of eligible homeowners willing and/or able to refi – whether or not the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac further tweaks the program’s eligibility requirements, say industry observers. This week, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt met with community leaders in Chicago in a town hall-style meeting to discuss the benefits of HARP. Last fall, the agency launched a nationwide public awareness campaign to reach eligible borrowers and encourage them to participate in HARP, with little apparent success. “We are...