United Wholesale Mortgage kept its position as the number one originator in 2024, though another rival trailed very closely behind, an analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data by Polygon Research shows.
The Pontiac-based wholesale lender originated 366,078 loans throughout last year, per HMDA data. Though impressive, Rocket Mortgage was right at UWM’s heels with the origination of 361,071 loans in 2024.
Total origination volume for UWM was $139.4 billion for the full year, while Rocket’s volume was $101.2 billion, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show.
Both Michigan-based heavyweights have nearly identical market shares, according to Polygon’s analysis, with UWM holding 5.95% of the market in 2024 and Rocket capturing 5.87%.
Prior to HMDA data being released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rocket announced its acquisition of real estate brokerage Redfin and megaservicer Mr. Cooper, inevitably setting up a power tussle in the near future between the two giants.
Cleveland, Ohio-based Crosscountry Mortgage ranked third, originating 101,894 loans in 2024. Its market share was 1.66%. Unlike UWM and Rocket, Crosscountry operates solely in the retail channel.
Ranked within the top 10 after Crosscountry are Bank of America, Navy Federal Credit Union, JPMorgan Chase, Loandepot, Guild Mortgage, U.S. Bank and Fairway Independent Mortgage.
Interestingly, Loandepot, which ranked No.10 last year, moved up to No. 7, while Guild Mortgage, which has been actively beefing up its originator headcount via acquisitions, made it No. 8.
Polygon’s analysis shows that Veterans United Home Loans and DHI Mortgage were ranked No. 11 and No. 12 in the number of loans originated last year.
“The 2024 market was fueled by stabilizing interest rates, pent-up demand, and increased refinance activity,” a press release from Polygon research said.
Throughout last year, interest rates tottered around 7%, but there were spurts of refinance activity when rates fell closer to the 6.5% threshold as a result of Federal Reserve rate cuts.
A separate release from software company RiskExec, which also analyzes HMDA data, shows that 2024 data included more than 12.1 million records from 4,898 respondents. The number of records was slightly lower in 2023 at 11.5 million, but the number of respondents was higher at 5,000.
