Quarterly mortgage production fell by a third at MetLife Home Loans. But mortgage headcount grew, reverse mortgage originations were higher and the servicing portfolio increased.
Home loan fundings during the third quarter came in at 31,061 loans for $7.0 billion, according to data reported today by MetLife Inc. to MortgageDaily.com. Business tumbled from 45,893 mortgages for $10.6 billion the prior quarter.
A year earlier, MetLife only originated a revised 21,319 loans for $4.4 billion. But that period reflected First Horizon’s ownership of the mortgage unit during part of the quarter.
Year-to-date volume through Sept. 30, including reverse mortgage business, was $29.4 billion.
Third-quarter reverse mortgage production was 5,136 loans for $0.9 billion, improving from 3,774 loans for $0.7 billion three months earlier.
The residential servicing portfolio at the Bridgewater, N.J.-based lender finished September at 553,924 mortgages for $101.0 billion, climbing from 540,650 loans for $97.8 billion on June 30.
MetLife Inc. had a $650 million third-quarter loss, better than the $1.433 billion loss in the previous quarter but much worse than the $600 million profit earned in the same quarter last year.
The latest results reflected net realized investment losses of $1.4 billion.
Headcount in the mortgage operations finished the third quarter at 4,150, climbing from 3,811 at the end of the second quarter. The Sept. 30 headcount included 364 reverse mortgage employees and 3,786 positions in traditional mortgage lending.
