Wholesale volume dropped 15.7% from last month to 4,692 loans. This brings the YTD total to 50,709 units, a drop of just over 6% vs 2008. Metlife did the most units in October, in wholesale and overall, and is the first time we’ve seen anyone other than Wells, Freedom, or BofA hold the top overall position since, well, a long time ago. They’ve obviously benefited from the fixed-rate product more than anybody else thus far, but others are catching up.
Speaking of fixed rate loans, they accounted for 69% of the wholesale market in October..
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We’ve been hearing some noise lately about the squeeze being put on the smaller brokers out there, as large lenders hire more LO’s and move away from wholesale. While this may be happening, it hasn’t really shown up in the volume numbers as of yet. The chart below shows the business mix between Retail and Wholesale since the year 2000, and the spread is just barely beginning to trend back in the favor of the large retail institutions.
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These two trends are likely related since many of the large retail institutions delayed their rollout of the fixed rate product, leading to a broker product advantage for several months this year, but still very interesting to look at from this long term perspective.
Have a safe and happy holiday season! (click the image below for the full Wholesale Report).
