Loan brokers using table funding captured 9.9% of the origination market in the first quarter, a slight gain from 4Q when the sector had a 9.7% share, according to new figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.
Brokers, hurt by excessive new regulations and a diminishing number of wholesalers willing to fund their loans, had their worst quarter ever in 2Q 2011 when their share fell to 6.7%.
Brokers' halcyon days came at the peak of the housing boom when they accounted for about 30% of production. This figure excludes correspondent originations where lenders fund a loan in their own name and then upstream the mortgage to a larger buyer such as Wells Fargo & Co.
Over the past few quarters there has been a gain in wholesaling with players such as Cole Taylor Bank, Ann Arbor, Mich., and United Wholesale Mortgage, Birmingham, Mich., showing explosive growth in table funding.
According to NMN/QDR, Cole Taylor grew its wholesale production by 233%, United by 240%. Another firm with strong growth was Stearns Lending, up 102%.
In 1Q, the top-ranked wholesalers were Wells Fargo ($7.4 billion), Provident Funding ($7 billion) and Flagstar ($2.9 billion). (A complete ranking of the top wholesalers appears in upcoming paper editions of NMN and its sister publication, Origination News.)
