Correspondent production took a bigger share of the fast-growing conventional-conforming space, while retail expanded in government lending. Wholesale-broker jumbo lending declined in the third quarter. (Includes two data charts.)

Although residential loan production has been strong the past two quarters, mortgage hiring of new workers hasn’t exactly caught fire.

In its thirst to expand the company’s presence in wholesale lending, Quicken Loans Mortgage Services this week unveiled big hiring plans for Detroit and Charlotte.

Loan applications are on the rise once again after a down reading the week before. And it appears the good times will last through the fall.

Although residential originations remain strong, the loan brokerage sector has been steadily cutting jobs since the spring, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Industry players question the numbers.

Mortgage brokers upped their market shares in both government-insured and conventional-conforming lending. Retail production also fared well in 2Q19.

Purpose and production channel matter in loan credit characteristics but the biggest difference maker is whether the mortgage has a government guarantee.

TD Bank was the top volume gainer among residential lenders in the second quarter but barely made the top 50 volume ranking in the first half of the year. Moral of story: the bigger you are, the harder it is to post huge percentage gains.

Mortgage brokers accounted for a record 14.8% of single-family business in the agency MBS market during the second quarter. Credit trends suggest sellers may have focused on the low-hanging fruit as production volume ramped up significantly.

Low revenues, high expenses and trend lines moving in the wrong direction are causing large bank-owned mortgage companies to underperform compared to independent mortgage banks in the retail space, according to a report by Stratmor Group.