Rising interest rates will likely bolster investor interest in floating-rate mortgage securities such as agency CMOs and non-agency products. The Fed expects to begin unwinding its massive agency MBS portfolio “at a coming meeting.” (Includes three data charts.)

Most of the decline was in portfolio holdings of mainstream agency MBS...

Mortgage REITs reported declines in their holdings of agency MBS during 2021, but diverse mortgage-related investments continued to grow. (Includes data chart.)

The conforming-jumbo business saw a modest setback in 2021...

Nonbank lenders discovered the non-agency jumbo market and helped drive production to a record $613 billion last year. The conforming-jumbo market fell sharply in the fourth quarter as lenders gamed the annual loan-limit adjustment. (Includes three data charts.)

The 21.5% decline in agency single-family MBS production in February may signal a deeper shift in mortgage market tectonics...

Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie issued a combined $187 billion of single-family MBS in February, a steep 21.5% decline from January. It was the lowest monthly issuance since March 2020. (Includes two data charts.)

The top three purchase-money lenders in 2021: PennyMac Financial Services, UWM and Wells Fargo...

Most top lenders saw declines in both purchase and refinance lending from the third to the fourth quarter of 2021. Compared to 2020, the purchase share was up. (Includes five data charts.)

JPMorgan Chase, Northern Trust, Bank of America and Commerce Bank also upped their ABS holdings over the last three months of the year.