Thrift Originations Decline in Q1

Thrift originations of single-family loans fell 13% in the first quarter even though thrift institutions increased their market share to 26%, up 2 percentage points from the fourth quarter.The Office of Thrift Supervision reported that thrifts originated $142.6 billion in SF loans in the first quarter, down from $163.9 billion in the fourth quarter and $141.5 billion in the first quarter of 2005. Adjustable-rate mortgages comprised 44% of thrift originations in the first quarter, compared to 50% in the previous quarter. Refinancings accounted for 35% of originations, up from 34% in the fourth quarter. The OTS report also shows that that the rapid growth of home-equity lines of credit in 2004 and early 2005 has really come to an end. HELOCs outstanding increased by only $1 billion in the first quarter to $91.6 billion. Thrifts did get a boost from mortgage serving rights in the first quarter. The value of MSRs jumped to $730.4 million from $356.4 million the fourth quarter. Despite this boost, thrift posted $4.2 billion in profits for the first quarter, shy 2% from record profits in the fourth quarter.