Thanks to a little help from its mortgage broker clients, Stearns Lending Inc. boosted quarterly new business. An even bigger gain was made with the mortgage servicing portfolio. Also increasing at a healthy clip was staffing.
Second-quarter mortgage production totaled 15,934 loans for $4.054 billion, according to operational data provided to Mortgage Daily.
Business surged from the previous period, when Stearns closed 13,568 loans for $3.405 billion.
Stearns funded $3.2 billion during the second quarter of last year, according to previously reported data.
During the first half of 2013, mortgage production at the Santa Ana, Calif.-based company amounted to 29,502 loans for $7.459 billion.
The most recent quarter reflected $0.600 billion in retail origination, up from $0.486 billion in the first quarter.
Correspondent volume was $0.360 billion, a little more than the $0.353 billion generated from correspondents three months earlier.
But the biggest gain came from mortgage brokers, with that channel’s originations jumping to $3.094 billion from $2.566 billion.
Moving on to loan servicing, Stearns reported a mortgage servicing portfolio of 64,162 loans for $15.146 billion as of June 30.
The portfolio soared from 49,721 loans for $11.689 billion at the end of the first quarter.
Stearns serviced just $5.8 billion as of the same date in 2012.
Last month’s total consisted of an investment portfolio of $0.002 billion and a third-party servicing portfolio of $15.144 billion.
Several growing originators have been acquiring mortgage servicing rights in an effort to increase the base of prospects for refinancing as volume tapers off from the massive refinance wave that has driven the market since last year.
Stearns employed 1,525 people as of the end of last month, growing its staff from 1,464 employees as of March 31.
Headcount was only 800 as of June 30, 2012.
