A quarter-over-quarter decline in mortgage originations at Bank of America Corp. was smaller than at any of its peers, while the company is the only residential lender so far to report a year-over-year increase. Home-equity loan fundings defied overall activity and have strengthened each quarter since 2011.
Earnings data published Wednesday indicate that residential loan production totaled nearly 97,000 units for $24.429 billion in the third quarter.
Business was off from 112,000 loans for $26.772 billion in the second quarter but improved from 80,000 mortgages funded for $21.248 billion during the three months ended Sept. 30, 2012.
Among all mortgage lenders to report third-quarter production so far, BofA is the only one that had a year-over-year gain. In addition, its 9 percent decline from the second quarter was lower than Citigroup Inc.’s 16 percent drop, JPMorgan Chase &Â Co.’s 17 percent reduction and Wells Fargo &Â Co.’s 29 percent tumble.
BofA’s most recent mortgage production included $22.601 billion in first mortgages, down from the second quarter’s $25.276 billion.
But home-equity loan originations jumped to $1.828 billion from $1.496 billion in the second quarter, nearly doubled compared to $0.933 billion in the same three-month period last year and have increased each quarter since the fourth-quarter 2011 — when just $0.759 billion in HELs were closed.
Refinance share of first mortgages was 78 percent.
Year-to-date Sept. 30 originations at BofA amounted to $76.237 billion.
BofA reported a mortgage servicing portfolio of $0.8894 trillion. The portfolio was reduced from $0.9864 trillion three months earlier and $1.4618 trillion 12 months earlier.
The serviced-for-investors portion of the portfolio was $0.616 trillion, down from $0.759 trillion as of June 30 and $1.142 trillion as of Sept. 30, 2012.
The U.S. portion of residential mortgages on BofA’s balance sheet ended last month at $253.409 billion. The bank trimmed the assets from $253.876 billion at the end of June and $256.928 billion as of the same date in 2012.
Another $96.653 billion in HELs were owned, down from $100.011 billion as of June 30 and $112.454 billion as of Sept. 30, 2012.
Commercial real estate holdings increased to $43.5 billion from $40.3 billion and were also up from the third-quarter 2012, when $36.0 billion in CRE loans were on the balance sheet.
New repurchase claims accelerated from the $1.331 billion in claims received in the second quarter to $1.843 billion but were well below the $4.983 billion in claims received a year earlier.
The $17.424 billion in outstanding claims as of Sept. 30 included $1.208 billion in GSE claims, $14.675 billion in private claims and $1.541 billion in monoline claims.
Losses before income taxes within the consumer real estate services segment were trimmed to $1.534 billion from $1.570 billion in the second quarter but worsened from $1.360 billion in the third-quarter 2012.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based company, as a whole, earned $4.845 billion before income taxes, not as much as the prior quarter’s $5.498 billion but better than $1.110 billion in the same quarter last year.
As of the end of last month, 27,600 people were employed in legacy assets and servicing. Mortgage staffing was cut from 31,700 at the end of June and 41,300 as of Sept. 30, 2012.
Including contract and offshore employees, headcount in legacy assets and servicing fell to 32,200 from 37,900 and was 58,200 one year prior.
BofA slashed staffing to 247,943 employees from headcount of 257,158 at the end of the second quarter. At the same point last year, 272,594 people worked at the company.
The number of banking centers was cut to 5,243 from 5,328 as of June 30.
