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Residential mortgage originations by U.S. lenders in the first quarter of 2010 retreated 19 percent compared to the same period a year ago, according to industry data released Wednesday.
[IMAGE]Market analysis conducted by MortgageDaily.com shows that it was the third consecutive quarterly decline in residential mortgage production.
With the fall off in origination numbers, the trade site also reported that two top-10 originators were unseated in its mortgage lender rankings.
""MetLife Inc's"":http://www.metlife.com 41 percent decline in activity was the largest of the lenders evaluated, moving the company out of the top-10 club. Also losing its top-10 title was ""Flagstar Bank"":http://www.flagstar.com, which saw business tumble 37 percent from the fourth quarter.
[COLUMN_BREAK]The remaining eight lenders on the top-10 list maintained their positions.
""Wells Fargo & Co."":http://www.wellsfargo.com continued its domination of U.S. production, reporting $76 billion in first-quarter business â€" more than any of its competitors.
""Bank of America Corp."":http://www.bankofamerica.com followed at No. 2, then ""JPMorgan Chase & Co."":http://jpmorganchase.com and ""GMAC"":http://www.gmacfs.com.
""Citigroup Inc."":http://www.citigroup.com was the fifth-largest originator last quarter in terms of volume, although it was the only company to report an increase from the fourth quarter.
PNC Bank's 71% decline from the first-quarter 2009 was the biggest among the firms analyzed, and GMAC Financial Service's 2% decline was the smallest.
""US Bank"":http://usbank.com held on to the sixth position, followed by ""PHH Corporation"":http://www.phhmortgage.com, and ""SunTrust"":http://www.suntrust.com.
Retail lender ""Quicken Loans Inc."":http://www.quickenloans.com, which ranked 11th in the prior report, moved to the No. 9 position on the latest list. ""BB&T Corp."":http://www.bbt.com moved into the tenth spot.
Although home-loan volume has tracked a downward slope for the last three quarters, some positive industry developments have emerged.
Loan performance and delinquency numbers are beginning to improve. And the first non-agency securitization deal in two years was issued by Redwood Trust Inc. last month amid strong investor interest â€" a good indication that the private-label secondary market could bounce back soon, providing banks with a principal channel of liquidity for lending.
