Origination Volume Climbs 30 Percent in 2012

Mortgage origination volume continued to climb in 2012, according to data from ""_Mortgage Daily's_"":http://www.mortgagedaily.com/ _2012 Mortgage Lender Ranking_.

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According to data collected from surveys, earnings filings, and other public disclosures, loan volume across all lending firms grew 30 percent annually in 2012.

In the fourth quarter alone, _Mortgage Daily_ reports residential originations coming in around 3 percent above third-quarter volume. Year-over-year, Q4 saw mortgage production grow 17 percent.

While production was up last quarter, data from _Mortgage Daily's_ and ""Optimal Blue's"":https://www2.optimalblue.com/ _U.S. Mortgage Market Index_ suggests originations during the first quarter of 2013 are on track to fall 16 percent quarter-over-quarter.

In terms of production volume, ""Wells Fargo"":https://www.wellsfargo.com/ continued to dominate the market in Q4, reporting $125.0 billion in loans during the quarter (representing 23 percent of [COLUMN_BREAK]

market share). It was followed by ""Chase"":http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/Home/home.htm ($51.6 billion for 10 percent of the market) and ""Quicken Loans"":http://www.quickenloans.com/ ($25.1 billion, or 5 percent market share), which climbed from the No. 5 position in the third quarter.

""Bank of America"":https://www.bankofamerica.com/ and ""U.S. Bank"":https://www.usbank.com/index.html rounded out the top five positions, each taking 4 percent of the market.

The top five list for all of 2012 looked similar, though some of the positions are changed: Wells Fargo remained No. 1 with $524.0 in volume last year (28 percent market share), followed by Chase ($182.2 billion, 10 percent share); U.S. Bank ($84.5 billion, 4 percent share); BofA ($78.7 billion, 4 percent share); and Quicken ($70 billion, 4 percent share).

According to _Mortgage Daily_, the ""Federal Housing Administration"":http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/federal_housing_administration (FHA) insured about $242 billion in loans last year, while the ""Department of Veterans Affairs"":http://www.va.gov/ (VA) insured an estimated $128 billion, bringing government share of the mortgage market to around 20 percent.

Meanwhile, ""Fannie Mae"":http://www.fanniemae.com/portal/index.html and ""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com/ together financed about 73 percent of 2012 originations.

Wells Fargo also dominated on the servicing side with an estimated portfolio size of $1.9 trillion. BofA held second place with a $1.4 trillion portfolio, followed by Chase ($1.1 trillion), Citi ($411.9 billion), and U.S. Bank ($276.4 billion).

""Ocwen"":http://www.ocwen.com/ and ""Nationstar"":https://www.nationstarmtg.com/, two companies that have shown a large appetite for servicing rights as of late, nearly doubled their volume last year. They ranked in the top ten list at Nos. 6 and 7 with estimated portfolios of $204 billion and $203 billion, respectively.