Quarterly mortgage originations slumped, losses widened and staffing was down at Walter Investment Management Corp. But the servicing portfolio inched up.
Residential loan originations, including traditional and reverse mortgages, came to $5.152 billion during the three months ended March 31.
Business slowed from the prior three-month period, when $5.776 billion was funded.
The Tampa, Florida-based mortgage firm disclosed the numbers, in addition to other operational and financial metrics, in its first-quarter 2016 earnings report.
Activity was also down from the first quarter of last year, a period that saw $5.878 billion in mortgage production.
First-quarter 2016 production included $0.015 billion in retail originations, $1.793 billion in consumer lending, $3.160 billion in correspondent acquisitions and
$0.184 billion in reverse mortgage fundings.
Locked volume was $4.6 billion,
down from $5.5 billion in the fourth quarter and pointing to a slower second-quarter 2016.
The total mortgage servicing portfolio concluded March 2016 at 1,856,553 loans for $230.962 billion.
The portfolio was 1,860,818 loans for $229.944 billion three months earlier and 1,790,000 loans for $213.937 billion one year earlier.
The March 31, 2016, servicing portfolio consisted of $198.048 billion in forward loans serviced for third parties, $10.053 billion in reverse mortgages serviced for third parties, $12.529 billion in forward loans owned by Walter and $10.332 billion in reverse mortgages on the balance sheet.
Prior to income taxes, there was a $279 million first-quarter 2016 loss, worsening from the prior period’s $208 million loss and the $50 million loss a year prior.
“First-quarter performance was significantly impacted by the challenging rate environment,” Denmar J. Dixon, vice chairman, chief executive officer and president of Walter Investment, explained in the report. “The decline in rates drove a volatile MSR market and negatively impacted results through the revaluation of mortgage servicing rights and accelerated prepayments.”
As of the most-recent date, there were 5,700 people on Walter Investment’s payroll.
Staffing was down from 5,900 employees at the end of last year and in excess of 6,000 people as of the same date last year.
