The year just closed was a barn-burner for bulk auctions of servicing rights. As for 2023, sales could be brisk but pricing will likely disappoint.

Banks and thrifts continued to see more value in their mortgage servicing rights in the third quarter, while their portfolios increased only slightly. (Includes data chart.)

Mortgage servicing right markups have allowed several companies to report net profits this year when, absent these non-cash entries, they’d be in the red. But advisors suggest some MSR holders might be pushing the envelope on their valuations.

The bulk GSE MSR transfer market is deep and wide: Some 21 companies have sold more than $10 billion so far in 2022 and 40 others have sold at least $1 billion. Coissuance activity has declined as agency business has slowed.

Over the past two years, Marlin Mortgage has made a name for itself as a buyer of conventional servicing rights. Now it is ready to pounce in the Ginnie market. A new proposed company acquisition may help.

Implementation of Ginnie’s risk-based capital requirements delayed; Fitch downgrades ratings of Finance of America, Provident; foreclosure starts decline; new alerts in Freddie’s Loan Advisor dashboard; MISMO seeks comments on three proposals; Staircase offers MSR transfer automation; LoanCare launches HELOC servicing; new LO recruitment tool.

Rumor has it that Frank Martell was brought on as CEO of loanDepot to cut it down to size and sell it. Can he? Will he? Stay tuned.

The California-based mortgage servicer also exited correspondent lending.

Stakeholders talk about the challenges in sharing MISMO datasets between different parts of the industry.

MCT and Freddie Mac experts discussed the strategies of managing MSR assets. While some firms are interested in the best financial deal they can get, others are focused on retaining clients.