The spring homebuying season helped to increase purchase-mortgage lending by 40% from the first quarter to the second. Still, the purchase sector lost some market share in the first half of the year as refi business percolates. (Includes five data tables.)

Interest rates on mortgages declined as the traditional homebuying season nears an end. Demand for purchase mortgages also continues to be limited by weak inventory of homes for sale and elevated home prices.

The servicing sales market has slowed this summer, but there are rumblings of activity. Freedom Mortgage, for instance, is peeling off a piece of its conventional portfolio. And a sale of SPS is in the works.

Correspondent and broker loans were more heavily weighted toward purchase mortgages in the second quarter compared with the retail channel.

Annaly Capital Management is set to issue its 12th expanded-credit MBS of the year.

Servicers have cited investments in technology to better track when a borrower might refinance, and investments in call center operations to complete the refis.

The economy is looking somewhat stronger than expected, based on data released Thursday.

"While refi activity is up significantly over the last couple weeks, most borrowers would need mortgage rates to move much lower before they’re incentivized to refinance," said Mark Palim, deputy chief economist at Fannie Mae.

Select Portfolio Servicing handled servicing on mortgages with an unpaid principal balance of $166.70 billion as of the end of June, according to estimates by Inside Mortgage Finance.

It's hard to pin down the "magical" number for interest rates that will unlock the housing market, according to the CEO of The Home Depot.