Although only one of the 21 banks (BB&T) posted a net loss on mortgage banking during the second quarter, seven others reported lower profits than they had in the first quarter.

A new analysis shows that housing markets where FHA loan limits were reduced this year have seen a bigger drop in FHA business than elsewhere in the country.

The top 25 originators accounted for an estimated 62.6 percent of new production. That was the lowest top-25 market share since 2000.

Nationstar Mortgage ranked first among non-agency MBS issuers, but its volume was tied to servicer advances.

Year-to-date MBS issuance by Fannie and Freddie was down 60.9 percent from the first half of 2013.

Surprise: most of the growth by nonbanks has been by smaller mortgage bankers.

The agencies securitized $122 billion of purchase mortgages during the second quarter of this year, a 16.6 percent sequential increase.

One positive trend for the mortgage insurance sector is that the growth in business during the second quarter was squarely in purchase mortgages and traditional MI loan-to-value ranges.

Marc Savitt, president of the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals, said he is seeing more lenders entering the wholesale channel. Most are nonbanks.

The most encouraging sign is that agency volume has been gaining pace. Production increased by 11.4 percent from May to June, with $76.48 billion in gross issuance.