Quarterly mortgage banking earnings and home-loan production picked up at BB&T Corp.
Branch, Banking and Trust Co. originated $8.4 billion in residential loans during the three months ended Dec. 31. The statistic was included in its fourth-quarter earnings report.
Production jumped from $5.5 billion in the third quarter and was better than the last quarter of 2010 by less than $0.1 billion.
Fourth-quarter business included $5.2 billion in correspondent production, more than $4.6 billion in the final quarter a year earlier.
Full-year fundings from both retail and correspondent totaled $23.7 billion, just shy of the $24.9 billion originated during 2010.
The residential servicing portfolio climbed to $91.6 billion from $88.7 billion in the third quarter and $83.5 billion in the fourth-quarter 2010. The third-party portion of the portfolio was $67.1 billion, up from $66.3 billion three months earlier.
Residential loans owned by the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based bank grew to $20.6 billion from $19.4 billion and were $17.6 billion at the same point a year earlier.
Delinquency of at least 30 days, including non-accrual loans, was 4.99 percent on the residential portfolio as of year-end 2011, lower than 7.79 percent at the end of 2010.
BB&T Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kelly S. King noted in the report that an aggressive disposition strategy implemented by the company has “proved very successful.” He reported that other real estate owned assets, excluding covered foreclosed property, declined 41 percent.
As of Dec. 31, 2011, BB&TÂ owned $12.8 billion in commercial real estate loans, cutting its holdings from $13.3 billion as of Sept. 30. CRE assets were $14.8 billion at the end of 2010.
Last month’s total reflected $10.7 billion in “commercial real estate – other” and $2.1 billion in “commercial real estate – residential ADC” assets.
Mortgage banking net income was $36 million during the final three months of 2011, better than the third quarter’s $17 million. Full-year mortgage banking earnings were a $17 million loss, though that was lower than the prior year’s $77 million loss.
Company-wide income before income taxes was $484 million, better than $439 million for the third quarter and the $232 million earned in the final quarter of 2010. Annual income was $1.6 billion, climbing from $1.0 billion in 2010.
As of the end of last year, there were 31,774 people employed at BB&T, a few more than 31,684 at the end of September. At the end of 2010, headcount was 31,354.
BB&TÂ operated 1,779 banking offices, three fewer than a year earlier.
