Business from mortgage brokers nearly doubled at SunTrust Banks Inc., while the correspondent channel also turned in a strong performance. The company shaved a few basis points off its delinquency and cut its mortgage losses on a quarter-over-quarter basis.
Loan closings totaled $5.8 billion between July 1 and Sept. 30, according to third-quarter earnings data. Production was better than the $4.7 billion originated during the prior period.
Wholesale originations were $1.0 billion, leaping from $0.5 billion in the second quarter. Correspondent acquisitions climbed to $1.2 billion from $0.8 billion.
Retail performance lagged third-party originations, increasing to $3.6 billion from $3.3 billion.
Refinance business represented 59 percent of third-quarter activity, jumping form the second quarter’s 48 percent.
The strong performance should continue into the fourth quarter, with applications rising to $13.7 billion from $10.5 billion in the second quarter.
But business slumped when compared to the third quarter of last year, when production came in at $8.0 billion.
During the first nine months of 2011, SunTrust originated $16.2 billion.
The mortgage servicing portfolio ended September at $161.0 billion, lower than $162.9 billion at the end of June. SunTrust has cut its portfolio since Sept. 30, 2010, when it stood at $176.6 billion.
Third-party servicing accounted for $129.4 billion of the third quarter servicing portfolio.
The Atlanta-based company owned $28.0 billion in residential mortgages as of the end of last month, more than $27.7 billion as of the end of June. At the same point last year, mortgage holdings were $28.2 billion. The most recent total was comprised of $23.5 billion in non-guaranteed loans and $4.4 billion in guaranteed loans.
The bank additionally held $16.0 billion in home-equity products, lower than $16.2 billion the prior quarter and $16.9 billion in the year-earlier period.
Excluding government mortgages, delinquency of between 30 and 89 days was 1.45 percent, a little lower than 1.47 percent three months prior. An increase in residential delinquency was offset by a decline for home-equity and construction loans. The overall improvement was more significant when compared to the 1.76 percent rate in the third-quarter 2010.
Commercial real estate holdings closed out the third quarter at $5.3 billion, while commercial construction holdings were $1.4 billion and residential construction assets were $1.0 billion.
CREÂ delinquency dropped to 0.17 percent from 0.26 percent and plunged from 0.88 percent at the same point in 2010. Commercial construction also saw a big drop — 52 BPS to 0.11 percent.
The cost of repurchases during the third quarter rose $27 million to $117 million. A spike in repurchase demands for 2007 originations pushed third-quarter total demands to $440 million from $348 million in the prior period.
The mortgage line of business had a $138 million loss, improving from a $147 million loss three months earlier. The unit lost $103 million a year earlier.
Net income at the parent company climbed to $215 million from $178 million in the prior period. The company earned $153 million in the same period last year.
At the close of the third quarter, SunTrust Banks Inc. employed 29,483 full-time employees. Staffing grew from 29,235 people working at the company as of June 30. Headcount was also higher than 28,599 at the same point last year.
There were 1,658 full-service banking offices in operation as of Sept. 30.
