As one servicing broker put it: “It’s brutal. No other way to say it…”

In general, lenders and issuers are anticipating another strong year for originations but less than the $2.375 trillion the industry funded in 2019.

Bank of America added $9.13 billion to its MBS portfolio, which nearly matched the $9.60 billion increase for the entire industry.

Private MI business fell off 7.6% from the third to the fourth quarter, however, a period when FHA and VA activity continued to climb.

But there were some hiccups in the overall trend. For starters, refi loans originated in the retail channel actually had slightly lower average credit scores than correspondent- and broker-originated refinances…

Still, January production was more than double the volume produced by the two GSEs in the first month of 2019.

Fannie’s average g-fee in the fourth quarter was up as well, but by just one basis point.

An estimated $334.0 billion of home loans were originated through the wholesale-broker channel last year, a 76.7% gain from 2018.

For GSE watchers the bottom line boils down to this: Both continue to earn money hand over fist and for now get to keep all their earnings instead of forking it over to the U.S. Treasury in the form of dividends.

Thanks to continued low interest rates, mortgage bankers and brokers are seeking additional workers...