Quarterly loan originations are holding up at Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc., and signs point to more of the same. Servicing, however, was down.
In its fourth-quarter 2017 earnings report, the Dallas-based mortgage banking firm disclosed income before income tax expense of $58 million.
Earnings
sank from $317 million in the final-three months of 2016. But results were stronger than $12 million in the preceding three-month period.
Servicing accounted for $77 million of fourth-quarter 2017 earnings, while originations made up
$30 million, and Xome generated $12 million. Corporate charges of $61 million partially offset the profits.
Loan production during the final-three months of 2017 came to $5.152 billion, slightly more than $5.102 billion in the third quarter and slightly less than $5.338 billion in the fourth-quarter 2016.
Refinances accounted for 63 percent of fourth-quarter 2017 activity, thinning from 64 percent the prior period.
From Jan. 1, 2017 through Dec. 31, home-lending volume amounted to $19.140 billion, less than $20.316 billion in 2016.
First-quarter mortgage production is likely holding up based on total pull-through adjusted volume, which dipped to $4.8 billion from $4.9 billion.
The servicing portfolio was 3.2 million loans with a collective unpaid principal balance of $508 billion, less than
3.3 million loans for $533 million at the end of the third quarter but more than $473 billion at the end of 2016.
Residential assets closed out last year at $10.123 billion — including $9.984 billion in reverse mortgage interests and $0.139 billion in mortgages held for investment.
The total was was down from $10.442 billion at the end of the third quarter $11.184 billion at the end of 2016.
Delinquency of at least 60 days finished last year at 3.4 percent, worsening from 3.2 percent as of Sept. 30
but lower than 5 percent as of year-end 2016.
