Analysts at Wells Fargo Securities recently upsized their ABS issuance forecast for 2014, projecting $195 billion in issuance for the year.

Although only one of the 21 banks (BB&T) posted a net loss on mortgage banking during the second quarter, seven others reported lower profits than they had in the first quarter.

A new analysis shows that housing markets where FHA loan limits were reduced this year have seen a bigger drop in FHA business than elsewhere in the country.

The top 25 originators accounted for an estimated 62.6 percent of new production. That was the lowest top-25 market share since 2000.

Nationstar Mortgage ranked first among non-agency MBS issuers, but its volume was tied to servicer advances.

Year-to-date MBS issuance by Fannie and Freddie was down 60.9 percent from the first half of 2013.

Surprise: most of the growth by nonbanks has been by smaller mortgage bankers.

The agencies securitized $122 billion of purchase mortgages during the second quarter of this year, a 16.6 percent sequential increase.

One positive trend for the mortgage insurance sector is that the growth in business during the second quarter was squarely in purchase mortgages and traditional MI loan-to-value ranges.

Marc Savitt, president of the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals, said he is seeing more lenders entering the wholesale channel. Most are nonbanks.