New primary mortgage insurance activity was down in the first quarter of 2019, but FHA and VA managed to expand their share of the market thanks to surging refinance business. Private MIs started the year slightly ahead of the pace in early 2018.

A handful of top lenders posted significant gains in production volume in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the previous period. But many more shops saw double-digit declines in first-lien mortgage lending.

Mortgage originators licensed by state regulators produced fewer loans in 2018 than they had in the previous year but still took more market share away from depositories. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of call-report data from banks, credit unions and the National Multistate Licensing System found that state-licensed nonbanks accounted for 54.8% of mortgage originations last year. That was up 1.8 percentage points from 2017. [Includes two data charts.]

Home mortgages that fail one of the basic tests to be classified as a qualified mortgage have become an increasingly large part of the agency market over the past few years, a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis reveals. [Includes one data chart.]

To minimize credit risk in FHA’s forward mortgage portfolio, lenders have been ordered to manually underwrite loan applicants with low credit scores and high debt-to-income ratios. [Includes one data chart.]

The nation’s subservicing vendors ended the fourth quarter with $2.47 trillion worth of contracts on their books, a 9.8% sequential gain and a handsome 23.5% annual increase, according to figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance. [Includes one data chart.]

The mortgage servicing market continued to grow in the fourth quarter of 2018, with most of the gains coming in the agency market, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis. [Includes two data charts.]

Home-equity lending weakened in late 2018 but remained a relatively bright spot in the mortgage business, according to an exclusive Inside Mortgage Finance market analysis. [Includes three data charts.]

Higher conforming loan limits for agency mortgage-backed securities programs didn’t do much to offset a sharp decline in total jumbo lending last year, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. [Includes three data charts.]

Mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates shrunk in the fourth quarter of 2018, helped by tight underwriting standards along with a strong economy and home price trends. [Includes one data chart.]