Refinance business held up better than the purchase market in February, and a handful of issuers actually increased their Ginnie MBS activity. (Includes two data charts.)

Home Equity Conversion Mortgage endorsements dropped last year despite a strong fourth quarter. American Advisors Group retained its top position among HECM lenders. (Includes two data charts.)

VA originations set a new record in the fourth quarter despite a slump in purchase lending. Nonetheless, purchase mortgages accounted for a large share of total VA business in 2019.

USDA lenders ramped up production in the third quarter of 2019 with a strong boost from purchase originations. More than 50% of total USDA originations were from correspondents. USDA servicing volume was up slightly from a year ago.

Reverse mortgage lenders saw modest growth in the second quarter with a mere 3.0% increase in HECM originations. The trend in the sector remains weak, with production at the mid-year mark down 33.7% from a year ago.

The volume of broker-originated FHA and VA refinance loans pooled in new Ginnie MBS jumped 94.1% from the first to the second quarter. Correspondent production saw the smallest gains among the three channels.

Purchase loans still accounted for over two-thirds of Ginnie loan deliveries, but the volume of incoming refinance loans had a slightly higher increase from June.

The purchase-mortgage and refinance sectors saw nearly identical gains in Ginnie volume last month, with most of the refi increase in rate-term transactions.

Average FHA and VA credit scores declined for both purchase and refi loans pooled into Ginnie Mae MBS in the first quarter. Wholesale-broker production gained a larger share of the market.