Top life insurance companies increased their ABS holdings substantially in 2020 and commercial MBS investment was up as well. But residential MBS portfolios declined. (Includes data chart.)
Most banks reported further declines in their home-equity portfolios, and the three biggest players in the sector continued to pull back. But credit unions and some regional banks stepped up. (Includes three data charts.)
The slope also remained slippery for home-equity debt outstanding. The Federal Reserve reported $441.6 billion of home-equity loans outstanding at the end of 2020, an 11.9% drop from the previous year.
Despite profit margins that continued to decline, lenders reported robust earnings from their loan originations and secondary market in the fourth quarter. (Includes data chart.)
Led by Rocket Mortgage, the $4.6 billion earned by nine nonbank lenders in the fourth quarter of 2020 topped the $3.6 billion in mortgage banking income reported by 20 banks. (Includes data chart.)
Although production and loan sales fell in the fourth quarter, 2020 was a banner year for mortgage banking operations at commercial banks and thrifts. (Includes two data charts.)
Commercial banks, the Federal Reserve and foreign buyers remained the biggest investors in U.S. residential MBS, a market that saw Freddie and Fannie expand at Ginnie's expense. (Includes three data charts.)
The Federal Reserve reported that single-family mortgage debt outstanding rose 4.3% in 2020 to $11.666 trillion. Of that total, $8.104 trillion, or 69.4%, was committed to mortgage securities.