Biggest U.S. Mortgage Lenders

PRESS RELEASE

Biggest U.S. Mortgage Lenders

DALLAS — (Aug. 13, 2012) /PRNewswire/ Second-quarter mortgage originations jumped 48.7% from a year ago, according to mortgage lender ranking data compiled by Mortgage Daily. Business was up 4.6% from the first quarter.

Residential lenders closed approximately $403 billion in loans during the second quarter.

FHA-insured loans accounted for around 15% of activity, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac funded roughly 81% — pushing the government share of home lending to nearly 97% from the previous quarter’s 94%. Government support increased as demand strengthened for HARP 2.0.

FHA originations expanded 15% between the first and second quarters, and new inquiries for FHA loans have grown over the past couple weeks.

More than half of all U.S. volume was closed by the four-biggest lenders.

Wells Fargo & Co. maintained its dominance of the mortgage market, though its market share slipped to around 32.5% from the first quarter’s 33.5%.

With a 28% improvement on a linked-quarter basis, Quicken Loans ascended to the No. 5 position in the latest ranking.

Among the fastest-growing lenders based on a comparison to first-quarter volume was PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust, where production leapt 89%. Primary Residential Mortgage Inc. and United Wholesale Mortgage each saw originations grow by half.

Compared to a year earlier, several mortgage bankers more than doubled their business — with PennyMac and United Wholesale leading the pack.

Third-quarter mortgage originations are likely to match the second quarter based on the Mortgage Market Index from Mortech Inc. and Mortgage Daily. The average index since the beginning of July has so far averaged about the same as the second-quarter average.

Wells Fargo also retained its No. 1 mortgage servicer ranking.

With its recent acquisition of mortgage servicing rights, Nationstar Mortgage became a top-10 servicer. Nationstar’s standing could improve significantly if it is successful in its bid to acquire mortgage servicing assets from bankrupt Residential Capital.