Total lender buybacks fell 14.4% last year…

The biggest increase in held-to-maturity and available-for-sale accounts was in agency pass-through securities…

Mortgage brokers aren’t taking over the world, but the industry’s share of new production reached a nine-year high in 2018, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. [Includes six data charts.]

Commercial banks and thrifts reversed a year-long trend during the fourth quarter of 2018 and increased their holdings of single-family MBS, a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis reveals. [Includes two data charts.]

Commercial banks and savings institutions made money on their mortgage banking activity during the fourth quarter, but not that much. [Includes one data chart.]

Mortgage lenders that deliver loans into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities continued to face relatively few repurchase demands from the two government-sponsored enterprises last year. [Includes two data charts.]

The gain in the sector was largely attributable to the biggest player in table-funding: United Wholesale Mortgage…

The Ginnie securitization rate hit 100.2%, but timing issues were involved…

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac racked up $25.19 billion in combined net income in 2018, their most profitable year since 2013, when earnings were inflated by accounting rules for deferred tax assets. [Includes one data chart.]

FHA and VA business saw a modest uptick in market share during the fourth quarter of 2018, but last year was all about the surge of the private mortgage insurance industry. [Includes two data charts.]