The final three months of last year saw an uptick in residential loan originations at Associated Bancorp, helping to push annual home-loan production up more than a third. Mortgage staffing expanded, as did the mortgage servicing portfolio.
The Green Bay, Wis.-based company reported to Mortgage Daily that it originated 7,116 mortgages for $1.324 billion during the three months ended Dec. 31, 2012.
Retail production accounted for $0.981 billion of fourth-quarter activity, while $0.050 billion was originated through wholesale lending and $0.293 billion came from the correspondent channel.
Associated originated 6,004 loans for $1.148 billion in the third quarter, while production was 6,890 loans originated for $1.256 billion in the same period during 2011.
Full-year 2012 mortgage production totaled 24,889 loans for $4.519 billion, climbing from 2011, when 17,308 loans were originated for $3.321 billion.
The total mortgage servicing portfolio was 80,510 loans for $10.905 billion, growing from three months earlier, when Associated serviced 80,297 loans for $10.777 billion.
A year earlier, 79,048 loans were serviced for $10.211 billion.
The Dec. 31, 2012, total included $3.434 billion in portfolio loans and $7.471 billion in loans serviced for third parties. The third-party servicing portfolio was $7.321 billion at the end of 2011.
Included in the bank’s investment portfolio were $3.377 billion in residential loans, according to fourth-quarter earnings data. Associated grew its home-loan holdings from $3.205 billion as of Sept. 30, 2012, and $2.951 billion as of Dec. 31, 2011.
Home-equity assets finished last year at $2.219 billion, off from $2.357 billion at the end of the prior quarter and down from $2.505 billion at the end of the prior year.
Commercial real estate loans owned by Associated totaled $4.127 billion at the end of 2012, growing from $3.985 billion at the end of the third quarter and $3.651 billion at the end of 2011. Investor CRE loans accounted for $2.907 billion of the latest total and $2.564 billion of the year-earlier total.
Another $0.655 billion in real estate construction loans were on the books, up from $0.611 billion three months earlier and $0.584 billion a year earlier.
Net income from mortgage banking came in at $14 million for the fourth quarter, off from the prior period’s $16 million but better than $10 million a year earlier. Full-year mortgage earnings soared to $64 million from $13 million in 2011.
Income at the parent company before income taxes fell to $60 million from the third quarter’s $67 million but improved from the $50 million in the fourth-quarter 2011.
As of the end of last month, 498 mortgage employees were on staff, up from 486 as of Sept. 30.
Associated said that it had 4,915 average full-time equivalent employees as of the end of last year, 50 fewer than at the end of the third quarter. Headcount was 5,056 at the end of 2011.
