Loan originations moved lower at PHH Mortgage and are likely down even more in the current quarter. The servicing portfolio was further reduced.
During the first-three months of this year, PHH suffered a $105 million loss before income taxes, worsening from $49 million one year previous.
Those details, along with other operating and financial metrics, were discussed by Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based PHH Corp. in its first-quarter 2017 earnings report.
Losses were slashed, however from $206 million the prior period.
Mortgage production during the three months ended March 31 came to 12,487 loans for $5.869 billion. The total was comprised of $4.672 billion in private-label services, and $1.197 billion in retail lending.
Overall home lending dropped from
17,540 loans for $8.885 billion in the fourth-quarter 2016 and 17,668 loans for $7.955 billion in the first-quarter 2016.
New business during the current quarter is likely retreating further based on new applications, which fell to $6.9 billion
in the first-three months of this year from $8.1 billion in the final-three months of last year.
Similarly, interest rate lock commitments declined to $0.5 billion from $0.7 billion.
PHH noted that the drop in activity reflects a continued reduction in private-label services and seasonal declines.
The primary servicing portfolio concluded March 2017 at 486,706 mortgages with an aggregate unpaid principal balance of $72.503 billion. The portfolio was down from the end of last year, when
567,647 loans were serviced for $85.472 billion. The portfolio has been cut from 628,104 loans for $97.084 billion as of March 31, 2016.
The weighted-average servicing fee was 28 basis points during the latest period.
The sub-servicing portfolio concluded the latest period at 267,949 loans for $91.123 billion.
PHH said it completed the sale of mortgage servicing rights on $10.2 billion in Ginnie Mae loans to Lakeview Loan Servicing on Feb. 2. The sale of MSRs on another $1 billion in Ginnie mortgages was additionally completed on May 2.
Delinquency of at least 30 days, excluding foreclosures, was 1.94 percent as of March 31, 2017. The rate fell from 2.56 percent three months earlier and 2.09 percent twelve months earlier.
“As an outcome of our strategic review process, we plan to operate as a smaller business that is focused on subservicing and portfolio retention services,” the report stated. “We intend to re-engineer and reduce operating and overhead costs, which may take up to 12 to 18 months to complete.”
