Mortgage bankers saw a small decline in profitability during the third quarter of 2017 despite a favorable turn in servicing and a bump up in mortgage production, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s quarterly performance report.

Commercial banks and savings institutions reported another decline in the volume of home mortgages they repurchased from investors during the third quarter, according to an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of call-report data.

The top five sellers to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posted a combined 14.1 percent increase in volume from the third to the fourth quarter, boosting their share of the market to 38.4 percent.

Mortgage lenders seem somewhat cheerier about the new year than the dismal scientists…

Fact: Fannie and Freddie securitized more purchase-money mortgages in 2017 – $472.77 billion – than in any year since 2007.

An estimated 69.5 percent of third-quarter mortgage originations were funneled into securities, according to affiliated publication Inside MBS & ABS.

While combined GSE servicing still accounted for a hefty 44.9 percent of single-family mortgages, it has continued to drift lower over the course of 2017…

But the gain was largely attributable to one bank – Wells Fargo – which acquired an agency servicing portfolio of about $51.0 billion from Seneca Mortgage…

The fastest-growing segment is the Ginnie Mae market…

Banks and thrifts continued to retreat from the home-equity business in 3Q17 while credit unions pressed forward…