The mortgage-market slowdown is stirring up interest in a humdrum segment of American home lending: the rights to the arcane task of handling monthly payments. Sales of so-called mortgage-servicing rights jumped 14% in 2018 from a year earlier, according to industry research group Inside Mortgage Finance, to more than $600 billion of loans backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. In the final three months of 2018, the servicing changed hands on loans worth $183 billion, up 27% from the previous year.

Source: Wall Street Journal February 13, 2019 15:00 UTC