Citigroup Inc. nudged up quarterly home lending. But the residential servicing portfolio continued its contraction, delinquency deteriorated, and mortgage earnings were weaker.
In its third-quarter earnings report, the New York-based financial services conglomerate revealed company-wide income from continuing operations before income taxes of $6.1 billion.
Citi’s earnings improved from $6.0 billion earned during the three months ended June 30, 2017. Income also ascended from $5.9 billion in the preceding three months.
Mortgage revenues were $134 million, retreating from $140 million in the last report and sinking from $185 million a year previous.
Citi closed $2.7 billion in first mortgages, creeping up from $2.6 billion in the second quarter. But business dropped from $3.2 billion originated in the third quarter of last year.
In the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2018, mortgage production totaled $7.6 billion.
Fourth-quarter production has likely slowed based on saleable mortgage rate locks, which fell to $1.1 billion in the second quarter from $1.3 billion during the first quarter.
The mortgage servicing portfolio was trimmed to $115.6 billion from $117.5 billion three months earlier and reduced from $127.5 billion one year earlier. Third-party servicing represented $55.8 billion of the total.
Residential assets ended the third quarter at $59.8 billion, a little less than $60.8 billion at the end of the preceding period and down from $65.8 billion on the same date last year.
On the conventional portion of the $44.6 billion in real estate lending assets owned by Citi, 30-day delinquency
jumped to 0.90 percent from 0.79 percent the prior quarter and a year previous.
Delinquency on the $15.2 billion in residential assets previously held by Citi Holdings
leapt 70 basis points to 5.53 percent. The rate was up 7 BPS from the same period in 2017.
Citi employed 206,000 people as of last month. Staffing inched up a thousand employees from mid-year 2018 but has been reduced by 7,000 versus Sept. 30, 2017.
North American retail banking branches numbered 692, one less than as of June.
