Pontiac-based United Wholesale Mortgage returned to profit in 1st quarter
Pontiac-based United Wholesale Mortgage returned to profit in the first quarter following its first full-year loss in 2023 since going public.
The nation's No. 1 mortgage lender by volume on Thursday reported a net income of $180.5 million for the quarter. That compared with a net loss of nearly $461 million in the fourth quarter.
Those earnings were similar to the parent company of Rocket Mortgage, which is UWM's top rival and headquartered in Detroit. Rocket Companies last week reported a $291 million net profit for the first quarter, which followed its $233 million net loss the previous quarter.
"We’re extremely busy here at UWM. We’re hiring hundreds of new team members preparing for the future and the opportunity, and there’s a great buzz around our campus," UWM CEO Mat Ishbia said in an earnings call Thursday morning. “Overall it’s been a tremendous start to the year."
Ishbia noted during the call that UWM did about 24% more mortgage origination activity in the first quarter compared with the same quarter a year ago.
“I don’t think it gets reported enough in the mainstream media, but we’ve seen a really strong purchase year so far — not just our mortgage company, but just in the market," Ishbia said. “Inventory is up, housing values are strong and there are a lot of first time homebuyers and people out here in the market."
“So I think it’s actually a really strong purchase market," he continued. "I won’t say extremely strong, like the best of all time, but it’s a strong market — definitely stronger than it was last year — and that’s why we’re seeing volume increases.”
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The Mortgage Bankers Association anticipates 2024 will be slightly better for the mortgage industry overall than last year, with $1.8 trillion in expected mortgage originations compared with $1.6 trillion in 2023.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: United Wholesale Mortgage returned to profit in 1st quarter
