Mortgage companies closed a greater volume of loans last year, and there was some shifting among the five-biggest firms. Drilling down to just the fourth quarter, a new No. 3 mortgage lender has emerged. Among residential mortgage servicers, three growing players have ascended to the top-10 club. Volume during the first three months of this year is likely to be lower than the final three months of 2012.
During the fourth quarter of last year, residential lenders originated around 3 percent more in U.S. loans than in the third quarter, according to the 2012 Mortgage Lender Ranking from Mortgage Daily. The totals were collected from surveys, earnings data and other publicly disclosed data. The numbers reflect residential and home-equity originations.
Compared to the fourth-quarter 2011, mortgage production grew 17 percent.
Wells Fargo &Â Co. maintained its stranglehold on the No. 1 position in the fourth-quarter 2012 with $125.0 billion in mortgage production.
Quicken Loans Inc. ascended from the No. 5 position in the third quarter to No. 3 this time around with $25.1 billion in volume reported for the last three months of 2012.
Fourth-Quarter 2012 Originations
| Rank | Lender | Market Share |
Volume ($ billions) |
| Total. | U.S. (est.) | 100% | $536.6 |
| 1. | Wells | 23% | $125.0 |
| 2. | Chase | 10% | $51.6 |
| 3. | Quicken | 5% | $25.1 |
| 4. | BofA | 4% | $22.5 |
| 5. | USBank | 4% | $22.1 |
| 6. | Citigroup | 3% | $16.8 |
| 7. | Flagstar | 3% | $15.4 |
| 8. | PHH | 3% | $14.4 |
| 9. | PennyMac | 2% | $10.0 |
| 10. | Ally | 2% | $9.8 |
An analysis of data from the U.S. Mortgage Market Index report from Optimal Blue and Mortgage Daily indicates that mortgage originations during the first quarter are likely to fall 16 percent from the final quarter of last year.
For all of 2012, home lending by all mortgage firms was up 30 percent from full-year 2011 originations.
With around $242 billion in loans that were insured by the Federal Housing Administration and an estimated $128 billion in mortgages guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, government share worked out to around 20 percent of the mortgage market.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collectively financed approximately 73 percent of last year’s home-loan originations.
Wells Fargo ranked as the biggest U.S. lender last year with $524 billion in mortgage production and a 28 percent market share.
Annual Mortgage Originations
| 2012 Rank |
Lender | 2012 Market Share |
2012 Volume ($ billions) |
2011 Volume |
| Total. | U.S. (est.) | 100% | $1,892.0 | $1,477.0 |
| 1. | Wells | 28% | $524.0 | $357.0 |
| 2. | Chase | 10% | $182.2 | $146.7 |
| 3. | USBank | 4% | $84.5 | $49.1 |
| 4. | BofA | 4% | $78.7 | $156.1 |
| 5. | Quicken | 4% | $70.0 | $30.0 |
| 6. | Citi | 3% | $58.5 | $63.2 |
| 7. | PHH | 3% | $55.6 | $51.9 |
| 8. | Flagstar | 3% | $53.6 | $26.6 |
| 9. | Provident | 2% | $35.8 | $23.6 |
| 10. | BB&T | 2% | $33.1 | $23.7 |
Last year saw in shift in the rankings of residential mortgage servicers.
Wells Fargo remained the country’s biggest mortgage servicer.
BofA reduced its servicing portfolio by 21 percent from 2011, while Ally Financial Inc. saw its company-wide portfolio decline 63 percent as a result of the ResCap bankruptcy.
Ocwen Financial Corp. and Nationstar Mortgage LLC nearly doubled the volume of loans the service.
Although it didn’t make the top-10 list this time, Walter Investment Management Corp. recently acquired a mortgage servicing rights that keeps it in contention with Ocwen and Nationstar. Walter is aggressively acquiring portfolios.
In addition to third-party mortgage servicing, the total servicing portfolios include residential and home-equity assets in the investment portfolio.
Biggest Mortgage Servicers as of Dec. 31, 2012
| Rank | Servicer | Portfolio Size ($ billions) |
| Total. | U.S. Outstanding (est.)* | $9,872.0 |
| 1. | Wells Fargo | $1,873.0 |
| 2. | BofA | $1,406.0 |
| 3. | Chase | $1,125.1 |
| 4. | Citi | $411.9 |
| 5. | USBank | $276.4 |
| 6. | Ocwen (est.) | $204.0 |
| 7. | Nationstar | $203.0 |
| 8. | ResCap (est.) | $200.0 |
| 9. | PHH | $183.7 |
| 10. | PNC | $169.4 |
*source:Â Fannie Mae
