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| PNC Financial Services Group Inc. has gone from zero to player in the world of residential finance.First-quarter first-mortgage originations were $6.9 billion, the Pittsburgh-based bank announced. Around 97 percent of business was either agency or government, while just 17 percent was for purchase transactions.
This is PNC’s first quarter in the residential lending business following its Dec. 31, 2008, acquisition of National City Corp. — which reported $7.4 billion in production during the first-quarter 2008. The portfolio of residential loans serviced for others was $168.0 billion, falling from $173 billion on Jan. 1. PNC reported $22.5 billion in residential mortgages on its balance sheet as of March 31, climbing from $21.6 billion on Dec. 31 and $9.3 billion on March 31, 2008. Included in residential holdings were $2.8 billion in residential construction loans, about the same as the prior quarter and well above $0.5 billion the prior year. Home-equity line-of-credit holdings ended last month at $24.1 billion, edging higher than $24.0 billion at the end of last year and soaring from $6.9 billion on March 31, 2008. Closed-end home-equity loans owned fell to $12.9 billion from the fourth quarter’s $14.3 billion — though HELs are much higher than $7.4 billion a year earlier. The commercial mortgage servicing portfolio rose to $269 billion from the fourth quarter’s $249 billion and the prior year’s $244 billion. Commercial mortgage holdings were $25.4 billion at the end of March, edging down from $25.7 billion three months earlier but soaring from $9.0 billion 12 months earlier — before the National City purchase. Earnings for the residential mortgage banking segment were $226 million. In the first-quarter 2008, National City reported a mortgage banking loss of $0.3 billion. Net income across all of PNC was $530 million — swinging from a $246 million loss during the fourth quarter. In the first-quarter 2008, income was $384 million. The financial institution said it paid out a $47 million preferred stock dividend for its capital purchase program advances from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. PNC employed 3,819 people in residential mortgage banking at the end of the first quarter, up from none previously. Company-wide headcount was 58,795 on March 31, lower than 59,595 on Dec. 31 but more than double 27,335 12 months prior. |
