During the third quarter, Wells Fargo purchased nearly $70 billion of closed home mortgages from correspondent originators, National Mortgage News reported Dec. 10.

The correspondent channel accounted for 49 percent of Wells Fargo’s residential production during the third quarter putting the bank in the top spot among correspondent buyers. The total purchases showed a slight increase over the second quarter when Wells Fargo’s correspondent channel accounted for 46 percent of production and purchases totaled $61 billion. 

Other top purchasers during the third quarter included JP Morgan with $22 billion and U.S. Bank Home Mortgage with $14 billion.

The popularity of whole loans has steadily increased, but pricing for servicing-released mortgages has improved little, National Mortgage News reported.

“Actual pricing levels remain unchanged with the aggregators offering well below economic value and retention strategies expanding aggressively,” Tom Piercy, servicing advisor at Interactive Mortgage Advisors, told National Mortgage News. “We do have more bids in the market today which is good but yield targets remain high, hence values remain below what many perceive as actual economic value.”