Quarterly residential loan production expanded at Flagstar Bancorp Inc., as did the home lender’s mortgage servicing portfolio.
In the three months ended March 31, Flagstar funded $7.254 billion in new home loans, which was provided through the bank’s first-quarter financial reports.
Residential lending activity jumped ahead from $6.603 billion in closed loans during the fourth-quarter 2014.
Recent originations also were ahead by nearly half from the $4.867 billion funded in the first three months last year.
First-quarter refinance share increased to 64 percent from 47 percent in the previous quarter.
Most of Flagstar’s recent lending volume — $5.0 billion — came from the correspondent channel. Mortgage brokers originated $1.8 billion, and retail contributed $0.4 billion.
Mortgage rate lock commitments grew to $7.2 billion from $6.2 billion in the fourth-quarter last year. This growth indicates home lending activity might continue to improve in the second-quarter.
As of the end of last month, the Troy, Michigan-based lender’s total mortgage servicing portfolio increased to 153,628 loans at $31.979 billion from 144,149 loans at $29.948 billion as of Dec. 31, 2014.
The portfolio was slashed, however, from 174,411 home loans serviced for $33.481 billion as of March 31, 2014.
Last month’s portfolio included $27.046 billion in mortgage loans serviced for others.
Flagstar additionally reported that it sub-serviced $44.708 billion for others as of the end of March.
Residential loan assets finished March at $2.475 billion. As of Dec. 31, 2014, the residential investment portfolio was higher at $2.599 billion. These assets also shrank from $2.787 billion as of the same point 12 months ago.
The March-ended investment loans included $2.013 in first mortgages, $0.146 in second mortgages and $0.316 in home-equity lines of credit.
Warehouse lending assets climbed to $1.083 billion from $0.769 billion as of Dec. 31 last year and $0.409 billion as of March 31 last year.
At the end of March, Flagstar showed $0.635 billion in owned commercial real estate loans. The CRE portfolio slightly grew from $0.620 in the fourth-quarter last year and increased more significantly from $0.513 billion in the first-quarter a year ago.
The repurchase pipeline ended March at $58 million, ahead from $43 million at the year-end of 2014.
The mortgage provider said it earned $50 million before taxes. Recent income leapt ahead of the $16 million earned in the fourth-quarter last year and the $118 million loss in the prior year’s first quarter.
“Mortgage volumes increased during the first quarter, providing a favorable tailwind, but most of our revenue growth was due to improved gain on sale margins in part form fundamental changes to optimize our mortgage origination business,” said Alessandro P. DiNello, Flagstar’s chief executive officer and president.
Full-time equivalent employment was at 2,680 as of the end of the first three months this year. Company-wide headcount decreased by 59 from 2014’s year-end count and was 118 short of March-ended numbers last year.
Last month, Flagstar accounted for 107 bank branches, the same amount inventoried as of Dec. 31, 2014.
