Mortgage bankers funded $351 billion of new residential loans in the first quarter, a 35% decline from a robust 4Q, but a slight gain from the year ago period, according to new figures compiled by National Mortgage News.
The results were hardly surprising -- especially in light of recent major layoffs of back office mortgage workers by Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co. But it appears that steadily declining mortgage rates over the past six weeks have sparked, to some degree, an increase in new business, or at least inquiries.
“Over the past 48 hours I’ve seen an up tick in activity,” said Debbie Killian, a former retail LO who last month was hired by GMAC Mortgage as an account executive in Connecticut. “It was dead for a while, but phones are starting to ring again,” she said.
Moreover, some lenders have announced expansion plans, a sign that at least some firms are growing.
Total Mortgage Services of Milford, Conn., recently added five new wholesale account executives, while a division of PennyMac hired a new correspondent lending chief, and predicted that it would be buying more loans from smaller lenders in the coming months.
Meanwhile, according to NMN, in 1Q Wells Fargo Home Mortgage once again dominated the origination business, funding $85.8 billion of home mortgages nationwide, giving it a market share of 24.43% -- a record for the industry.
The bank owned lender remains committed to all three production channels (retail/wholesale/correspondent) and out-lent its closest competitor, Bank of America, by a stunning $27 billion. (For completed analysis and the actual rankings see the Monday paper edition of NMN.)
