At the same time residential loan servicers are increasing the size of their mortgage servicing portfolios, they are improving how much they earn per loan.
As of Dec. 31, 2013, the average independent servicer had mortgage servicing rights on a portfolio of 75,839 loans for $12.567 billion.
That reflected growth compared to Sept. 30, 2013, when those same companies serviced an average of 71,562 loans for $11.310 billion.
The year-earlier average was just 35,919 loans for $5.785 billion.
The statistics were determined from the 204 servicers surveyed for the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Quarterly Mortgage Bankers Performance Report Q4 2013.
On a per-full-time-employee basis, average loans serviced fell to 1,094 from 1,148 three months earlier but edged up from 1,076 a year earlier.
Servicers earned 19 BPS in total net servicing financial income, more than the 11 BPS earned in the third quarter and a quantum leap from the 5 BPS in the fourth-quarter 2012.
However, financial income dropped to 15 BPS at firms that serviced more than 50,000 loans as of year-end 2013 and jumped to 21 BPS at servicers with portfolios of between 2,500 and 10,000 loans.
Personnel expense was 7 BPS per loan, little changed from Sept. 30. Servicers have trimmed their human resource expense from 8 BPS in the fourth-quarter 2012 report.
At larger firms, employee expense was less than 6 BPS, while it climbed to 8 BPS at companies that service fewer than 2,500 loans.
As of the end of last year, servicers employed an average of 114 full-time employees, trimming their staffs from an average of 127 in the previous report.
At the end of 2012, average headcount was much lower at 78.
