Smaller mortgage lenders generally reported that residential loan originations during last year were stronger than in 2011, and some have reported that they broke prior records. One commercial real estate lender grabbed a big share of the apartment financing market.
Jerry Schiano, who founded New Penn Financial LLC in 2008, said in December that he expected his firm’s residential originations to reach $5 billion in 2012, The Inquirer reported.
Lowell, Ark.-based Arvest Mortgage Co. previously reported $1.6 billion in 2011 originations. Arvest pushed volume up from last year and originated a record $2.56 billion, the Kansas City Journal reported. That makes fourth-quarter 2012 production around $0.6 billion, off from $1.0 billion previously reported for three months earlier.
A decline in volume at USAÂ Mortgage left fourth quarter originations at 2,752 loans for $0.486 billion, slowing from the prior period’s 2,915 loans for $0.522 billion. The DAS Acquisition Company LLC subsidiary closed just $0.4 billion in the year-earlier period. Full-year 2012 production was $1.752 billion, a nice improvement from $1.115 billion one year prior.
In Fairfax, Va., McLean Mortgage Corp. reported that it closed $1.5 billion during all of 2012, more than doubling its $0.7 billion in production the prior year. Purchase financing grew 40 percent. Using previously provided data, overall fourth-quarter fundings worked out to around $0.476 billion, better than $0.441 billion three months prior and $0.225 billion 12 months prior.
“a concentrated effort to strengthen our corporate infrastructure and operational platforms,” Gateway President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Stitt said in the statement. Gateway noted that it’s mortgage servicing portfolio finished December in excess of $2.5 billion.
Home loans closed at PrimeSource Mortgage Inc. numbered 2,063 in the final three months of 2012, parent PSM Holdings Inc reported. Business at the Oklahoma City-based company soared from 1,030 loans originated for $0.184 billion in the prior three months. A year earlier, PrimeSource generated 946 loans.
At Churchill Mortgage, fourth-quarter mortgage production was 1,674 loans for $0.299 billion, growing from the 1,448 loans funded for $0.258 billion in the third quarter and 1,587 units for $0.270 billion in the same quarter during 2011. Full-year production at the Brentwood, Tenn.-based firm was 6012 loans for $1.058 billion, up from 2011 originations of 5,026 loans for $0.828 billion.
Fourth-quarter 2012 production at NFM Inc. was $0.262 billion, better than the prior quarter’s $0.259 billion and also improved from the $0.224 billion originated in the same quarter in 2011. Annual activity at the Linthicum, Md.-based lender, which celebrates its 15th anniversary on March 3, expanded to $0.948 billion from 2011 production of $0.694 billion.
Since 1993, Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based Home Finance America has closed 40,000 residential loans, a Dec. 31, 2012, announcement said.
During the first 11 months of last year, the Mortgage Warehouse LLC closed $0.090 billion in mortgages, a story from Business First said. By the end of the year, volume was expected to reach $0.100 billion, more than double the $0.047 billion closed in 2011.
Mortgage originations at Bank of the West increased 51 percent between the third-quarter 2011 and the third-quarter 2012, the company recently reported. Year-to-date 2012 originations were 45 percent higher than the comparable period in 2011.
A 400 percent increase in originations between 2011 and 2012 was reported by Cherry Hill, N.J.-based Garden State Home Loans.
Dallas-based PrimeLending reported that it ranked nationally as the No. 4 lender in purchase units originated in 2012. In addition, it was the second-biggest residential lender based on units for purchase financing in Texas and No. 1 in Dallas.
The Tampa Bay Business Journal ranked Bank of America as the second-biggest residential lender in the Tampa Bay, Fla., area during 2011. The findings, based on data from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council that were collected in compliance with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, indicated that BofA’s local business was down $1.3 billion from 2010 — the only decline among the seven-biggest lenders.
Unit-production at Bank of Commerce Mortgage was higher than any other non-deposit-taking mortgage banker in San Luis Obispo County, Calif., the 29-year-old company announced. Eight mortgage consultants work at the San Luis Obispo branch. In addition to government and reverse mortgages, Bank of Commerce Mortgage provides conventional and jumbo lending.
Third-party originator 360 Mortgage Group reported this month that it continues to see growth in the origination of loans through the Home Affordable Refinance Program. 360 Mortgage President and Founder Mark Greco noted that less than a quarter of eligible borrowers have completed a HARP refinance, “a significant opportunity.”
The origination of multifamily loans for Fannie Mae by Beech Street Capital LLC leapt 45 percent in 2012, according to the Bethesda, Md.-based company. The activity made it the third-biggest multifamily originator for Fannie. Beech Street said it ranked as No. 7 with Freddie and was Freddie’s top structured finance lender and for the second consecutive year.
Mortgage production at commercial real estate lender Lone Oak Fund expanded by 60 percent last year, a Feb. 7 press release said. Lone Oak Vice President Stephan Kachani indicated that 2012’s growth was gradual and added,, “We see continued growth in 2013 due to the improving California economy.”
