“Sellers are increasingly cutting prices to entice buyers struggling with affordability,” said Skylar Olsen, chief economist at Zillow.

The non-agency market could gain from a reduction in GSE loan limits, revision in capital requirements for banks and updated requirements for publicly registered securitizations.

Arbor Realty Trust affirms accounting, business practices; Fannie offers new CRT tranche; two ABS issuers under pressure.

Big banks increased their mortgage originations in the second quarter. But halfway through the year, volume is down at many of the banks.

Treasury office considers reforms for title insurance; FHFA sets tenant protections for GSE multifamily borrowers; Biden administration calls for rent control; two states slow on index change.

Some $77.98 billion of purchase mortgages without MI were included in agency MBS issued in the second quarter, a 35.1% increase compared with the first quarter.

“Mortgage rates dipped below 7.0% in June but that did little to spur purchase activity,” said Joel Kan, a vice president and deputy chief economist at the MBA.

Originations increased by 32.5% in the second quarter.

“This is ultimately giving each and every market participant a chance to see what the new score will look like, to see what the GSEs are proposing in terms of calculating a representative score,” said Anthony Hutchinson, a senior vice president of industry and government relations at VantageScore.

The increase in mortgage applications was driven by refis.