Independent mortgage bankers had their most profitable fourth quarter in seven years for originations, but the fallout from the coronavirus could upset the economics of the industry in the short term.

Impac Mortgage Holdings decided a year ago to emphasize its non-qualified mortgage lending operations and placed the company in position to succeed when the housing market returns to normal.

Companies in the mortgage business were already focused on processing a lot of loans and generating efficiencies before the latest uptick in business hit.

With the return of volume and profitability to mortgage lending, it is no surprise that commercial banks are coming back to the market.

Altisource Portfolio Solutions lost nearly the same amount of money as it did for the whole year while it continued the business transition started in 2018.

CoreLogic's fourth-quarter earnings reflect the success of the transformation to an appraisal management company business model accelerated in the prior-year period.

The cancellation by New Residential of a money-losing subservicing agreement should benefit Ocwen's financial results going forward, the company said.

Mr. Cooper Group reported fourth-quarter net income of $461 million, aided by the recovery of its deferred tax asset and a positive mark-to-market on its servicing portfolio.

Equifax has released a series of bundled services aimed at helping financial institutions use data and analytics to manage tasks associated with the process of servicing mortgage loans.

The CEO of Freedom Mortgage, Stanley Middleman, provides his take on trends affecting independent mortgage bankers as well as the residential real estate finance industry at large.