Originations see strong growth

Rebounding mortgage business was a major driver of big bank revenue in Q2 – just another indicator that the mortgage industry is recovering from previous volatility

It isn’t just brokers enjoying a busy year; the country’s largest banks are also cashing in as Americans are drawn to a hot housing market and record low interest rates.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, $395 billion in mortgages were originated over the course of the second quarter of this year – a large chunk of that by the big banks. It marks the best quarter for the industry since Q3 2013.

The banks enjoyed a large uptick in business over the previous quarter when compared to Q1’s origination figures of $330 billion.

And according to the data, five big banks accounted for 33% of the quarter’s mortgage business – funding $132.7 billion among themselves alone.

Leading the way was Wells Fargo, which originated $62 billion and JPMorgan, which originated $29.3 billion.

Rounding out the top five were Bank of America ($19.2 billion), U.S. Bancorp ($13.4 billion), and Citigroup ($8.8 billion).

Still, in a bit of good news for brokers, these five banks have actually seen their market share drop drastically since mid-2012 when they accounted for 53% of all mortgages originated.

See the chart below, which details how each bank’s market share has changed over the last ten years. 



source: Trefis