Walter Investment Management Corp. was only one of two mortgage lenders to report a quarter-over-quarter increase in mortgage originations. But the company’s servicing portfolio slipped, and earnings deteriorated.
During the third quarter, the Tampa, Fla.-based company closed $6.5 billion in mortgages, according to earnings data reported this week.
Total production included $6.1 billion in residential volume and $0.440 billion in reverse mortgage fundings.
Business was better than in the three months ended June 30, when home loan production totaled $5.4 billion.
The only other company tracked by Mortgage Daily to report an increase from the second quarter was Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc., which announced that volume climbed to $8.0 billion from $7.1 billion.
No mortgage production was reported for the third-quarter 2012 at Walter.
From Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, Walter originated $13.3 billion, including $11.2 billion in traditional loans and $2.110 billion in reverse mortgages.
Sixty percent of traditional business during the most recent three-month period came from the consumer lending channel, while 40 percent was generated by the correspondent and wholesale lending channel.
Business could slow in the fourth quarter based on the ending locked pipeline, which fell to $3.1 billion from the 4.2 billion at the end of the second quarter.
As of the end of September, the servicing portfolio stood at 1.9 million loans for $209.4 billion. The total included 1.8 million residential loans for $194.2 billion and 92,237 reverse mortgages for $15.2 billion.
The portfolio was down from three months earlier, when Walter serviced 1.9 million loans for $211.4 billion.
As of Sept. 30, 2012, the mortgage servicing portfolio was in the neighborhood of $82 billion.
Walter noted that servicing portfolio additions of more than $30 billion included agreements to acquire mortgage servicing rights on $23 billion in loans and sub-servicing contracts on $7 billion in loans.
The residential investment portfolio fell to $11.589 billion from $11.628 billion three months earlier. The most recent number included $1.417 billion in “loans at amortized cost” and $10.172 billion in “loans at fair value.”
Earnings prior to income taxes dropped to $121 million from the second quarter’s $239 million. But income soared from only $11 million in the third-quarter 2012.
More than 6,200 employees were on staff as of Sept. 30, the same headcount as of three months earlier.
Staffing has more than doubled from 12 months earlier, when 2,600 people were on Walter’s payroll.
