Then again, nearly all of the increase in broker activity came from United Wholesale Mortgage, the dominant funder of broker loans.

The expanded credit sector (which includes non-QM lending) shows promise but accounted for just 2.8% of total residential MBS issued in the first quarter, according to Inside MBS & ABS.

Much of the decline came right at the top as Wells Fargo reported a drop of $19.85 billion in total mortgage servicing during the first quarter.

The $29.42 billion of refinance mortgages sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was up 30.2% from April and marked the biggest monthly volume since December 2017.