The independent mortgage lender bucked industry trends to post records
Guild Mortgage announced record-setting purchase loan and servicing volumes during 2017, while reaching a near-record $15.94 billion overall loan volume.
The company’s strong gains came at a time when many other US mortgage originators were struggling. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that overall loan volume declined 16.6% industry-wide between 2016 and 2017, dropping from $2.1 trillion to $1.7 trillion.
Guild purchase-loan volume rose 19.2% to a record $12.7 billion in 2017, up from $10.7 billion in 2016. Purchase loans represented 80.1% of the company’s production volume during 2017, up from 66.8% the previous year. The average loan size increased in 2017 to $232,552, up 1.7% from $228,500 in 2016.
The gain was offset by a 39.4% drop in refinance loan volume to $3.2 billion, down from $5.3 billion and driven by rising interest rates the last three months of the year. The MBA estimated an industry-wide drop of 39.9% in refinance volume, to $600 billion from $999 billion. The purchase loan share of all loans in the U.S. was 51& in 2016 and 65% in 2017, according to the MBA.
Mary Ann McGarry, Guild president and CEO, said regions with the lowest housing costs and best inventories continued to grow, despite increased interest rates. The company’s top growth region was the Southeast, up 26% to $1.3 billion. The average loan size in the Southeast was $174,197, the lowest of all regions. It was followed by one of Guild’s two Texas regions, with growth of 17% to $1.1 billion and average loan size of $174,916.
The highest average loan size in 2017 was in Hawaii, at $417,296. Top loan sizes in the mainland regions during 2017 were the new Oregon region at $289,647; California Coastal, $288,197; Northwest, $281,049; and California Inland, $271,470.
“We are looking forward to further growth in 2018, including in our new Midwest Region, where Guild just announced the acquisition of Cornerstone Mortgage in St. Louis,” McGarry said. “It has 19 offices in three states, loan volume of $1.0 billion in 2017, and has been the fastest-growing mortgage company in the state for six years, with entrepreneurial and customer-service cultures that match ours.”
Founded in 1960, Guild has grown 15-fold since 2007 to more than 4,000 employees and 250 branches and satellite offices in 27 states.
