Although mortgage earnings and originations were weaker at Huntington Bancshares Inc., the mortgage servicing portfolio expanded, residential assets increased, and delinquency declined.
Mortgage production during the three months ended March 31 was $0.657 billion, first-quarter earnings data indicate.
Business slowed from the final three months of last year, when Huntington funded $0.841 billion. It was also worse than the first three months of 2013, when volume amounted to $1.119 billion.
The Columbus, Ohio-based company said it serviced $15.614 billion in mortgages for third parties. The servicing portfolio was up from $15.239 billion as of Dec. 31, 2013, and $15.367 billion as of March 31, 2013.
Residential assets finished last month at $13.915 billion. The mortgage portfolio expanded from $13.657 billion in the last report and $13.525 billion in the year earlier report. The March 31, 2014, figure reflected $5.542 billion in residential mortgages and $8.373 billion in home-equity loans
At 4.16 percent, accruing residential mortgage delinquency of at least 30 days was 10 basis points better than as of Dec. 31, 2013. Delinquency has improved 63 BPS from March 31, 2013.
On the home-equity portion of the investment portfolio, delinquency slipped 1 basis point from the end of last year to 1.00 percent. A seven-basis-point improvement has been made on a year-over-year basis.
Commercial real estate holdings ended the first quarter at $5.031 billion. Huntington grew its CRE portfolio from $4.850 billion. The CRE portfolio was minimally lower than $5.059 billion at the same point last year. CRE assets consisted of $4.339 billion in commercial mortgages and $0.692 billion in construction loans.
Delinquency on CRE loans was cut to 1.14 percent from 1.52 percent three months earlier and 1.55 percent a year earlier.
Mortgage banking income slipped to $23 million from $24 million and slid from the same three-month period last year, when the net was $45 million.
Mortgage earnings were impacted by the “reduction in volume, lower gain on sale margin, and a higher percentage of originations held on the balance sheet.”
The parent company earned $201 million before income taxes, slightly less than income of $210 million generated three months earlier and $208 million earned 12 months earlier.
Fourth-quarter income was revised up from $207 million originally reported due to an upward adjustment in non-interest income. Huntington said it adopted of ASU 2014-01 Accounting for Investments in Qualified Affordable Housing Projects in the latest report, prompting it to revise earlier period data.
Headcount at the holding company level was trimmed to 11,800 average full-time equivalent employees from 11,900 at the end of 2013. At the same point in 2013, there were 11,200 people employed by Huntington.
Branch count closed out March at 727, growing from 711 at the end of December. Huntington said it acquired 11 Michigan branches from Bank of America.
The report indicated that Howell D. “Mac” McCullough was named chief financial officer.
