The company, which earned $535 million in net income in 3Q20, has been prioritizing purchase volume and managing costs to account for a possible decline in originations next year.

For most of the underwriters it was a strong quarter, but concerns remain over government-sponsored enterprise reform and potential claims after forbearances end.

The company is finding it challenging to ramp originations back up after spending most of the second quarter on the sidelines.

Compared with the second quarter, the title insurer had 154,000 more orders opened and earned $89 per residential file.

The origination boom generated another profit for the company in the third quarter, when also it obtained a novel source of liquidity to support its servicing operations.

Lenders pushed back against the notion that city dwellers' pandemic-driven flight to suburbia would hurt them. They say fewer landlords have sought deferrals as vacancy rates remain low and rent collections have stabilized.

The upcoming shift may help to prepare the government-sponsored enterprise for a conservatorship exit by reducing interest-rate volatility in Fannie’s earnings.

The government-sponsored enterprise also saw a 22% increase in net worth from the second quarter.

The mortgage unit contributed $20 million of the $26 million the holding company earned over that period.

The company had lower losses on its mortgage servicing rights investments compared with the second quarter.