There was a small pickup in business at MetLife Bank, N.A., as the company grew its mortgage staff by more than 200. Reverse mortgage production was mixed as the average loan amount moved lower.
The number of residential loans originated increased to 20,326 in the third quarter from the prior period’s 20,086, based on data provided by the company to Mortgage Daily. The dollar volume rose to $5.088 billion from $4.683 billion.
A year ago, home loan fundings were 31,061 loans for $7.0 billion.
MetLife additionally closed 3,901 reverse mortgages for $0.451 billion, a mixed performance compared to 3,500 reverse mortgages for $0.463 billion reported for the second quarter.
The inverse movement between the number of loans and dollar volume pulled the average reverse loan amount down to around $115,000 from the second quarter’s approximately $132,300.
Including traditional and reverse originations, MetLife’s year-to-date production amounts to $15.0 billion.
The servicing portfolio closed out the third quarter at 616,694 loans for $117.2 billion. The residential servicing portfolio was 553,924 mortgages for $101.0 billion a year prior.
The latest total reflected a “sub-serviced” portfolio of 160,107 mortgages for $30.4 billion, while the rest was “owned.”
Headcount at the Bridgewater, N.J.-based lender finished September at 4,183, more than 3,959 at the end of June. The company employed 4,150 people on Sept. 30, 2009.