At the midway point this year, agency multifamily issuance was off 36.9 percent from the first half of 2013, and production was essentially flat in the second quarter.

Among the nation’s top five servicers, all suffered a decline in their MSR portfolios. Among the top 30, 20 firms saw a reduction in housing receivables.

Analysts at Wells Fargo Securities recently upsized their ABS issuance forecast for 2014, projecting $195 billion in issuance for the year.

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.