According to a new tally from Inside Mortgage Finance, refis accounted for 47.6% of first-lien originations in 3Q19 compared to 35.9% and 35.2% in the second and first quarters, respectively.

PennyMac – launched by former Countrywide Financial executive Stanford Kurland in 2008 – has been using the MSP servicing platform since its inception.

In case you haven’t noticed, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was at 1.86% as IMFnews went to press compared to 1.46% in early September. That’s a difference of 40 basis points…

Purchase-loan activity increased significantly and continued to account for most agency business.

There was some positive news in the form of originations. Ocwen funded $412.2 million in forward and reverse mortgages in 3Q, declaring that its annualized run rate (based on October production) now totals $2.6 billion.

In 3Q19, PennyMac Financial Services, the nation’s fifth largest home lender, earned a record $121.9 million.

The combined portfolio of the top five servicers actually declined slightly during the third quarter. Megabanks Wells Fargo, Chase and Bank of America shed a combined $26.8 billion during the third quarter, with $20.0 billion of that taking place at Wells. Mr. Cooper Group, the largest nonbank servicer, reported a slight $2.5 billion drop, although its subservicing portfolio grew 2.8% to $310.5 billion.

Happy Holidays from the FHFA: Certain Fannie Mae executives will see a reduction in "deferred" compensation...

Meanwhile, new agency MBS creation remained strong in September at $160.2 billion…

Meanwhile, depository institutions shrank their Ginnie MSR by 1.9% during the third quarter.