“U.S. Bank was asked why it wasn’t expanding in the mortgage business,” Gabriel said during a panel discussion. “Their answer was: ‘Did you see what happened to Bank of America?’”

If purchase-lending doesn’t increase soon the mortgage industry could be in for some turbulence.

Annaly remained the biggest REIT investor in MBS, although its holdings were down 14.9 percent from the fourth quarter.

Although the FHA has been losing ground for several years to the private MIs, the program saw a surge in refis in March...

Fannie and Freddie securitized $26.34 billion of purchase mortgages in April, a 24.3 percent increase from the previous month.

The eight nonbanks – including the top publicly traded firms that rank high in originations, servicing or both – posted a combined $40.5 million in mortgage-banking income during the first quarter.

VA originations by state-licensed lenders rose 14.5 percent from 2013 to 2014.

Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie all posted solid gains in volume during April, but Ginnie had the strongest increase with issuance rising more than 32 percent…

It’s not clear whether thousands of other – much smaller – mortgage servicers grew enough to offset the decline in the top tier.

The jump in private CMBS issuance helped offset what looks like a sharp slowdown in agency multifamily MBS production.