Last year saw greater warehouse lending volume, larger average funding facilities and a higher ratio of warehouse line usage than a year earlier.
Out of an estimated $1.45 trillion in full-year 2015 mortgage originations by U.S. lenders, approximately $1.028 trillion was funded through warehouse lines.
Warehouse lending volume increased from $0.905 billion in 2014 and most recently stood near the $1.095 trillion level recorded for all of 2003.
Those were some of the findings from the 2015 Annual Warehouse Lender Survey from The Reynolds Group.
There were 78 mortgage bankers with various warehouse lender platforms accounting for an estimated 80 percent of active U.S. platforms that participated in the survey. Responses reflect activity from June 2015 through November.
The total available facility level provided to the 78 lenders stood at $105 billion in the latest report, up from $87 billion in 2014 when 77 lenders participated.
Total available facility levels exceeded $1 billion at 21 of the firms surveyed.
The average level of funds advanced was $54 billion in the 2015 survey, more than $39 billion the prior year.
While the 51-percent usage level of warehouse lines was
way up from 38 percent in 2014, it wasn’t as wide as 52 percent in 2013 and 54 percent in 2012.
Average turn times in the latest survey were 19 days — longer than the 15 days in 2014.
The longer turnaround was attributed to investor take-out delays as a result of issues associated with the implementation of the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule.
TRID delays are expected to continue at least through the first quarter of this year.
At 299 basis points,
warehouse operating margins were tighter than in years past for large-cap originators and mostly consistent for small-cap operators.
