Citi continued the trend of big banks reporting sharp declines in their mortgage originations, driven by a lack of refinance business.

During a recent webinar on MSR strategies, industry attorney Larry Platt of K&L Gates said he knows of “certain sales that have been held up for quite some time.” He noted: “You really can’t get a handle on what the cause of it is.”

The MBA said applications for purchase-mortgages with high loan balances have increased in recent months while applications for lower-balance mortgages has declined…

The National Association of Realtors also urged the FHA to use its “granted discretion” to adjust loan limits for areas that have experienced significant declines.

Fitch said OneWest found a new buyer for 12,000 mortgages in 39 non-agency MBS that didn’t receive consents as part of the planned transfer to Ocwen.

The first three months of 2014 represented the strongest quarterly ABS issuance number since the third quarter of 2009, when $53.27 billion of new deals were issued. It was up a modest 1.7 percent from the strong start in 2013.

FHFA Director Mel Watt may have something to say soon on the topic of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loan level price adjustments, commonly known as LLPAs. As for the GSE 'Scorecard'...

The EXPIRE Act also includes a provision to extend the mortgage insurance premium tax deduction. In a letter supporting the tax extensions to the committee, the Mortgage Bankers Association estimated that for a $200,000 home, homeowners would be able to deduct between $600 and $1,000 from their taxes.

But Wells also offers up disappointing news on its mortgage gain-on-sale results. Its GOS fell to 161 basis points in the first quarter compared to 177 bps in 4Q and 256 bps in 1Q13.

In 2013, nine firms issued jumbo MBS. In the past two quarters, the only issuers of jumbo MBS were Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase and Redwood Trust.