Higher-priced mortgages are a regulatory designation based on the comparison of the annual percentage rate on a mortgage with the average prime offer rate, which tracks rates offered to prime borrowers.

BofA no longer reports mortgage earnings separately in its quarterly results. Residential finance is housed in the company’s community banking division, which reported net income of $3.3 billion in 3Q19, a slight gain from the prior period.

Industry analysts attribute the rise to a search for yield by investors along with increased acceptance of non-QMs in the investor community.

The megabank – a bellwether for the residential finance industry – also reported that mortgage banking income fell 38.5% sequentially to $466 million...

The VA program saw the sharpest spike in refi activity, shooting up 69.7% from the second quarter.

Expanded-credit MBS issuance (the sum of nonprime and Alt A) hit $9.90 billion in the third quarter, a 60.8% jump from the previous period.

There's a strong demand out there for mortgage processors, but overall, residential-related hiring has been tepid...

On purchase mortgages, African-Americans were denied 17.5% of the time compared to 8.0% for non-Hispanic whites…

The FHA program saw the slowest gain in FTHB business, up just 13.6% from the previous period…

Overall, banks and thrifts sold $165.10 billion through their mortgage banking operations during the second quarter, up 34.5% sequentially…