Mortgage lenders said their per-loan profits declined 19% in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Quarterly Mortgage Bankers Performance Report, released Dec. 8.
Independent mortgage bankers and the mortgage subsidiaries of banks reported they made an average of $1,238 on each loan originated, down from $1,522 in the second quarter, the MBA reported. In the third quarter of 2014, the average profit was just $897 per loan.
"The average production volume in the third quarter of 2015 was significantly higher at $614 million per company, compared to $437 million per company in the third quarter of 2014. At the same time, the share of purchase production to total production by dollar volume was similar at 70% and 72%, respectively," said Marina Walsh, MBA's vice president of industry analysis, in a press release accompanying the report.
Each company averaged 2,609 loans, a 3.9% drop from the particularly strong second-quarter showing.
