Independent Mortgage Banker Profits in U.S. Down 51 Percent in 2018

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest Annual Mortgage Bankers Performance Report, independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks in the U.s. made an average profit of $367 on each loan they originated in 2018, down from $711 per loan in 2017. "Despite a healthy economy in 2018, the mortgage market suffered, as rate hikes hurt refinancing volume and low housing inventories priced some potential homebuyers out of the purchase market," said Marina Walsh, MBA's Vice President of Industry Analysis. "For mortgage companies, there was the perfect storm of lower production revenues combined with rising expenses, which together contributed to the lowest net production income per loan since 2008. Production revenues per loan dropped despite study-high loan balances in 2018.  At the same time, production expenses per loan grew to a study-high of $8,278 per loan last year."