But still-elevated interest rates contributed to a "deteriorating outlook" for independent mortgage banks this year, Fitch Ratings said.

Company executives are counting on Guild's recent acquisitions to buoy business once the market normalizes.

Argyle, which helps lenders verify income and employment data, completed a $30 million funding round led by a Rockefeller Capital Management innovation fund, bringing its funding since the firm's formation to more than $100 million.

Rocket shrunk its workforce by about 20% year-over-year, while Academy cut 250 employees prior to being acquired by Guild Mortgage.

Employees transitioned after Premier's parent company, NTFN Inc. shuttered in December.

New American Funding, Lower and FirstSun Capital among purchasers in recent M&A deals within the mortgage space.

The blockbuster merger proposal will be reviewed at a time when the Biden administration is expressing skepticism about consolidation. Its analysis will have to account for markets dominated by both big banks and the likes of Visa and Mastercard.

The Charlotte, North Carolina, company has agreed to sell its remaining 80% stake in its insurance brokerage unit to raise billions of dollars in cash and extra capital. The "wild card" is how Truist will deploy them, one analyst says.

Conversations around a potential sale started at the end of 2023 and the deal will close at the end of the first quarter, according to the Guild Mortgage executive.

The transaction will make Guild the eighth largest non-bank lender in the country, the company said in its press release Tuesday.

Over 60 former Draper & Kramer employees joined Synergy One at the beginning of February instead of New American Funding, which had acquired their company.

First National Bank of Pennsylvania, a unit of FNB Corp., ran into trouble in connection with North Carolina operations it acquired from Yadkin Financial in 2017.

The lender has signed a letter of intent to acquire single-family mortgage operations and staff, according to Rick Arvielo, NAF's chief executive.

Sekisui House Ltd. announced a $4.9 billion agreement on Thursday to buy MDC Holdings Inc., ikely the biggest U.S. purchase of a homebuilder by a Japanese company.

The Seattle bank's stock price fell in 2023 amid concerns over rising interest rates and its concentration of multifamily loans. The buyer is FirstSun Capital Bancorp, which raised $175 million as part of the deal.

Southern Bancorp in Little Rock, Arkansas, plans to put $250 million in equity capital it received from the Treasury Department to good use making mortgages and acquiring banks.

Credit unions have announced 11 deals for banks so far in 2023, five short of 2022's total.

National Mortgage News recounts some of the notable mergers and acquisitions completed in the past 12 months.

The deadline for a $28 million deal between Bancorp 34 and CBOA Financial was pushed later into 2024 after Bancorp 34, the buyer, announced it would restate third-quarter results to reflect a significant loss tied to a worsening commercial real estate credit.

Both companies have been at the center of other M&A transactions over the past two years, as each looked to expand their national footprint.