During the past four years, the share of first mortgages originated by credit unions has more than doubled, according to new data.
In 2011, U.S. mortgage lenders originated around $1.325 trillion in residential loans. A year earlier, that number was approximately $1.608 trillion.
Based on data reported by the Federal National Mortgage Association, 91.5 percent of all outstanding home loans as of last year were first liens. The trend over the past five years has been that first mortgages are accounting for a larger share of outstanding mortgages as the share of new junior lien originations has been falling.
As first liens continue to account for more of the new mortgages that are made, a new report indicates that credit unions are responsible for a growing share of the country’s first-lien production.
The report, released Friday by the American Credit Union Mortgage Association, said that credit unions generated more than 6.5 percent of all first-lien originations as of Dec. 31, 2011. The statistics are based on dollar volume.
Market share for the nation’s credit unions climbed from 5.38 percent in 2010.
“Our current percentage is [the] highest level since we began tracking this data dating to the early 1990s,” ACUMA Chairman Bob McKay said in the announcement.
ACUMA attributed the rising market share to consistent underwriting standards and a high level of trust with credit union members.
Historical data from ACUMA indicates that credit union market share has risen each of the past five years and was just 1.33 percent as of 1991.
“Interest in credit union home loan lending has been on the rise for the last several years,” stated McKay, who is also chief operating officer at Baxter Credit Union in Illinois. “Recent media attention and social media events like Bank Transfer Day brought even further attention to the great story taking place today for American families with credit unions.”
