The 12 firms reported a combined $700.6 million in earnings from their servicing operations, a 1.2 percent decline from the fourth quarter…

It was the ninth consecutive quarterly decline in bank ABS investment since the end of 2013…

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac produced $73.23 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities in May, a solid 6.3 percent increase from April, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside The GSEs.

The banking industry still hasn’t touched bottom in its years-long retreat from the mortgage servicing rights business.

New home-equity originations on home-equity lines of credit and closed-end second mortgages fell by 6.3 percent from the fourth quarter to an estimated $45.0 billion. However, that was up 18.4 percent from the first quarter of last year.

The three agencies produced $114.71 billion of new single-family MBS last month, a 5.3 percent increase from April’s volume.

Although purchase-mortgage lending is expected to pick up considerably in the second and third quarters, the refi market isn’t dead yet.

The banking industry sold $145.3 billion of home mortgages during the first quarter, a 5.1 percent decline from the previous period.

Fannie Mae’s Robert Schaefer said there is a “high probability” the mortgage giant will be part of an MI transaction later this year that addresses the “pain points” the GSE sees in the deeper MI concept.

There are about 75 correspondent buyers in the market today, but that figure will winnow down to about 60 as margins stay tight...