Quarterly home-loan originations were down by 49 percent at Ally Financial Inc., while earnings were off and the servicing portfolio fell. Performance looked better, however, when compared to a year ago.
International first-quarter mortgage production was $12.2 billion, including $11.8467 billion in domestic activity, according to fourth-quarter earnings data and figures provided directly to Mortgage Daily.
The latest activity plummeted from $23.2 billion in U.S. mortgages originated in the final quarter of last year.
But business wasn’t much different than the $13.0 billion closed a year earlier.
Ally said that high mortgage rates and seasonal trends were responsible for the poor quarter-over-quarter performance.
The primary servicing portfolio ended March at $360 billion — including a domestic portfolio of $353 billion.
The domestic portfolio was $355.7 billion three months earlier and $349.0 billion a year earlier.
Repurchase reserve expense fell to $26 million from the fourth quarter’s $180 million. The repurchase reserve balance was unchanged at $830 million.
Income from mortgage operations fell to $34 million from the fourth quarter’s $123 million. But the latest performance beat out the $122 million loss suffered by the unit in the first-quarter 2010.
Ally Financial’s income before taxes came in at $428 million, worse than the $533 million earned in the prior quarter but better than the $156 million loss a year earlier.
