Jumbo lending increased by 67.2% from the first quarter of 2019 to the second, faster than any other product category. Expanded-credit lending had the slowest growth rate.
A group of 15 top mortgage REITs increased its agency MBS portfolio by $20.9 billion during the second quarter of 2019, although non-agency MBS investment slipped modestly.
New issuance of credit-risk debt notes by the GSEs fell 25.5% sequentially in the second quarter, but surging MBS production in recent months will likely spur increased CRT activity in the second half of the year.
Some 12.9% of purchase loans sold to Fannie and Freddie in the second quarter had credit scores ranging from 620 to 699, the highest such concentration on record. But loans with high credit scores accounted for a rising share of GSE refi business.
Seven publicly held nonbanks reported a combined loss of $47.8 million on their mortgage banking operations in the second quarter as interest rate volatility hammered their servicing books.
Both GSEs posted their highest monthly volume of single-family MBS issuance since January 2017. Purchase-mortgage and refinance business rose significantly.