Mortgage repurchases peaked in 2009 at $34.276 billion, fell to $31.811 billion in 2010 and $20.943 billion in 2011, and then dropped to just $12.966 billion in 2012.

The first two months of 2014 generated just $132.85 billion of new agency MBS, down 57.6 percent from the same period last year. A harsh winter in many parts of the country hasn’t helped.

The fee assessed by FHA would cost lenders roughly $30 million a year, or $23 per loan, according to calculations done by Inside Mortgage Finance.

Jumbo production surged 20.9 percent from 2012 levels to an estimated $272 billion – the strongest output for the sector since 2007.

Subprime delinquencies are increasing, but it's unclear whether the trend will last or whether it's just a blip on the radar screen.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency ordered the two GSEs to sell at least 5 percent of their “less-liquid” mortgage assets, meaning whole loans and non-agency securities. CMBS are arguably the most liquid of these.

The retail share of new residential originations declined slightly, to 60 percent, in the fourth quarter after climbing steadily during the first nine months of the year.

For Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities issued in January 2013, the average reported credit score was 701 and the average DTI ratio was 38.0. By December, the average FHA credit score was down to 680, while the average DTI ratio was up to 40.3.

Mortgage-banking income reported by banks and thrifts rose 12.7 percent from the third to the fourth quarter of last year, according to a new analysis of call-report data by Inside Mortgage Trends. The fourth-quarter surge brought annual earnings from mortgage banking to $25.857 billion in 2013.

Overall, the group reported a 5.8 percent increase in total mortgage banking income – which for some firms includes activity not captured in either production or servicing – during the fourth quarter.