Ginnie Mae and Freddie Mac both posted strong gains in REMIC issuance during the first quarter. Wells Fargo Securities was the top underwriter of these deals.
A sharp increase in the securitization rate of nonprime and expanded-credit mortgages was partly due to seasoned loans and GSE-eligible mortgages. Agency securitization rates were sluggish.
Most of the decline in bank MSR activity in the first quarter was attributable to Wells Fargo, while Flagstar accounted for a big chunk of the increase among savings institutions.
The surging broker channel is attributable to rapid growth at United Wholesale Mortgage, by far the largest platform in the business. According to IMFresearch, no other table-funder comes close.
The $29.42 billion of refinance mortgages sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was up 30.2% from April and marked the biggest monthly volume since December 2017.
Fannie's MBS issuance was up significantly from April to May while Freddie posted a smaller monthly gain. Purchase mortgages and refinancing both rose substantially.
The average firm posted a pretax net loss of $214,000 loss in the first quarter. Retail-focused lenders and independent mortgage bankers fared relatively better.
Broker originations accounted for a growing share of first-quarter production in all three major mortgage products. United Wholesale accounted for the channel's growth.