Wells Fargo last year wound up keeping almost $20 billion of new residential production its books instead of selling the loans to Fannie Mare and Freddie Mac.

Heavy refinance activity, especially through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, boosted the conventional conforming market by a whopping 35 percent in 2012.

The GSEs continued to wrangle with seller/servicers over repurchase requests during the fourth quarter of 2012, but mostly over loans originated five years earlier.

Retail mortgage lending, in terms of market share, set a new record last year, but those gains may fade.

In a market that grew by 15.9 percent in 2012, Moody’s increased the volume of ABS deals it rated by just 6.9 percent over its activity in 2011.

Thanks, in part, to HARP loans private mortgage insurers in 2012 posted their best year since the financial market collapse back in 2008, according to new figures compiled by Inside Mortgage Finance.

FHA single-family production rose 22.3 percent in 2012, but another increase in the mortgage insurance premiums will likely accelerate the program’s three-year decline in market share.

GSE MBS issuance increased in January and the most likely explanation may be new, more seller-friendly repurchase policies at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Residential mortgages sourced through the correspondent channel and sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increased by 26 percent in 2012 compared to the year before.

Mortgage bankers of all sizes continued to report strong earnings on their mortgage banking operations during the fourth quarter of 2012, but the salad days may be over.