Fourth-quarter data indicate that mortgage bankers saw originations rise and secondary marketing income improve from a year earlier. While human resource costs are rising, more loans are being closed per production employee.
Those findings were outlined in the 69-page Quarterly Mortgage Bankers Performance Report from the Mortgage Bankers Association:
Out of 321 total companies reporting, 310 said they originate residential loans. Average quarterly production was 1,296 loans for $286 million. In the third quarter report, MBA said average fundings were 1,090 loans for $237 million.
MBA gets its data from the Mortgage Bankers Financial Reporting “WebMB” Form through a joint agreement between MBA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae.
Mortgage bankers earned 54 basis points on fourth-quarter production, worse than 71 BPS in the third quarter but a little better than 49 BPS a year earlier.
Fourth-quarter net reflected a negative 136 BPS in “net loan production operating income,” 2 BPS in net interest income and 188 BPS in net secondary marketing income.
Based on an average loan amount of $208,319, the average origination fee was $1,443. That wasn’t much different than the third quarter’s $1,435 but was higher than $1,389 earned in the fourth-quarter 2009.
Secondary marketing income slipped to $3,870 per loan from $4,069 per loan in the third quarter. But secondary income has improved from $3,118 in the first quarter of last year.
The average time that a loan sits on a warehouse line has been relatively constant at 16 days.
Average employee costs worked out to $3,124 for each loan. Staffing has become more expensive since the $2,756 it cost per loan a year prior.
Respondents had an average of 165 full-time production employees, more than 156 in the prior quarter and 140 in the same period during 2009.
The report indicated that the average mortgage banker closed 4.05 loans each month per employee. That was an improvement from 3.50 loans in the prior period and 3.79 during the same period in 2009.
The full report is available for purchase by calling 202.557.2830.
