Quarterly mortgage production picked up at PHH Mortgage and could move higher again. Losses were cut, as was its servicing portfolio.
In the PHHÂ Corp. second-quarter earnings report, total mortgage originations during the period were disclosed at 24,573 loans for $9.294 billion.
Business picked up from the three months ended March 31, when the Mount Laurel, N.J.-based firm closed 20,437 loans for $7.384 billion.
From Jan. 1 through June 30, volume worked out to 45,010 home loans for $16.678 billion.
As has been the case with most of its peers, volume at PHHÂ came up short compared to the second quarter of last year, when it funded 46,810 mortgages for $14.771 billion.
Retail-private label services accounted for $6.587 billion of second-quarter 2014 business, while retail-real estate made up another $2.397 billion, and $0.310 billion came from wholesale/correspondent.
The appears to have continued into the current period, with total applications increasing to $12.8 billion from $10.4 billion in the first quarter. Both purchase and refinance applications moved higher.
The overall momentum was further supported by interest rate lock commitments, which rose to $2.1 billion from $1.8 billion.
PHH’s mortgage servicing portfolio slipped to 778,108 loans for $125.181 billion from 794,648 units $128.813 billion three months earlier.
The portfolio was also down from $135.351 billion a year earlier.
Another 402,291 loans were subserviced for $100.721 billion as of June 30, 2014.
Excluding foreclosures and real estate owned, the 30-day delinquency rate was 3.06 percent based on loan balances, worsening from 2.79 percent at the end of March.
But the delinquency rate improved form 3.58 percent as of mid-year 2013.
PHHÂ finished the second-quarter 2014 with $86 million in unresolved repurchase requests, making a dent compared to the $116 million outstanding at the end of the first quarter.
Losses from mortgage production declined to $27 million from the first quarter’s $60 million but swung from a $44 million profit in the year-earlier period.
Income from servicing fell to $2 million from $10 million three months earlier and swung from a $73 million loss twelve months earlier.
Company-wide income from continuing operations prior to taxes was a $21 million loss, narrowing from the first quarter’s $93 million loss but swinging from a $133 million profit in the second-quarter 2013.
“While our second quarter results continue to reflect a highly-challenging industry environment, we are reducing costs and gaining share in the retail home purchase mortgage market,” PHH Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Glen A. Messina stated in the report.
