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Wells Fargo the Top Mortgage Lender in 2017, Quicken Tops for Number of Loans

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Despite closing a higher number of mortgage loans last year, Quicken Loans was unable to wrestle the coveted top spot away from Wells Fargo, per HMDA data parsed by iEmergent.

During 2017, the under-fire San Francisco-based bank managed to fund $93 billion in total residential mortgage volume, claiming a 5.6% share of the total mortgage market in the process.

It’s pretty impressive when you consider the many scandals they’ve had to face in the past couple years.

Apparently customers weren’t all that concerned about their questionable practices, even some involving their mortgage processes like that lock scandal.

The company handily beat out its closest rival, Quicken Loans, which managed only $81.3 billion in total volume throughout the year.

While a healthy number for sure, it was about $12 billion shy of Wells Fargo, which makes it clear that the megabank isn’t quite ready to give up its mega lead.

Quicken Closed the Most Mortgage Loans in 2017

However, what was interesting was total number of loans originated. Quicken and its highly successful Rocket Mortgage platform mustered a higher number of originated loans during 2017.

Per iEmergent, the Detroit-based nonbank lender closed 395,648 loans, besting Wells Fargo by more than 100,000 loans (Wells closed just 272,938 loans).

If we break that down by loan size, we’re looking at an average loan amount of $205,601 for Quicken and $340,844 for Wells Fargo.

That’s a difference of roughly $135,000 per loan, with Wells’ loans about 66% larger on average. Wow!

In other words, Wells is probably doing the same amount of work, but bringing in larger loans and winning big on total volume. So yes, loan size does matter.

Chase claimed a podium spot with $53.2 billion in total volume and a 3.2% share of the mortgage market. The company did even better on average loan size with their 143,704 loans breaking down to a very healthy $369,986.

Bank of America came close, claiming the fourth spot with $46.6 billion in volume and a 2.8% share of the market. They funded 106,290 loans for an average loan amount of $438,283, blowing away their competitors.

Rounding out the top five was loanDepot, which originated $33.9 billion on 134,019 loans. That amounted to 2% of the overall market. But their average loan amount was only $253,170.

Coming in sixth place was Caliber Home Loans, a nonbank that managed $31.3 billion on 114,641 loans. That resulted in an average loan amount of $272,966 and gave them a 1.9% share.

Number seven was lesser-known Shore Mortgage with $28.9 billion on 104,106 loans. They claimed a 1.7% market share with an average loan amount of $278,076.

The eight largest mortgage lender in 2017 was Flagstar Bank with $23.1 billion in volume on 83,469 loans. Their 1.4% market share came with an average loan amount of $276,888.

The ninth spot belonged to U.S. Bank with $22.8 billion in total volume on 82,776 loans. Their average loan amount was $275,072, bringing them 1.4% market share.

And finally, the tenth spot belonged to Fairway Independent Mortgage, which originated $19.5 billion on 86,152 loans. That gave it a 1.2% market share and average loan size of $226,382.

Top Mortgage Lenders in 2017 (By Volume)

1. Wells Fargo – $93 billion
2. Quicken Loans – $81.3 billion
3. Chase – $53.2 billion
4. Bank of America – $46.6 billion
5. loanDepot – $33.9 billion
6. Caliber Home Loans – $31.3 billion
7. Shore Mortgage – $28.9 billion
8. Flagstar Bank – $23.1 billion
9. U.S. Bank – $22.8 billion
10. Fairway Independent Mortgage – $19.5 billion

Top Mortgage Lenders in 2017 (By Number of Loans)

1. Quicken Loans – 395,648
2. Wells Fargo – 272,938
3. Chase – 143,704
4. loanDepot – 134,019
5. Caliber Home Loans – 114,641
6. Bank of America – 106,290
7. Shore Mortgage – 104,106
8. Fairway Independent Mortgage – 86,152
9. Flagstar Bank – 83,469
10. U.S. Bank – 82,776

As you can see, despite Quicken winning the fourth quarter of 2017 on total volume, it still fell short for the year.

It’ll be interesting to see if Quicken can beat Wells Fargo again, at least on a quarterly basis.

But it might be tough as the mortgage market becomes decidedly purchase-driven, with mortgage refinance volume showing no signs of improving anytime soon.

Speaking of, here are the top 10 purchase mortgage lenders of 2017 by both total volume and number of loans. Wells Fargo dominated both categories last year.

These latter two lists might give a glimpse into the future, or at least tell us who may win 2018 and 2019.

Top Purchase Mortgage Lenders in 2017 (By Volume)

1. Wells Fargo – $60.1 billion
2. Chase – $28.7 billion
3. Bank of America – $26.5 billion
4. Quicken Loans – $24.3 billion
5. Caliber Home Loans – $22.9 billion
6. Shore Mortgage – $16.9 billion
7. Fairway Independent Mortgage – $16.9 billion
8. Flagstar Bank – $13.9 billion
9. Guaranteed Rate – $13.6 billion
10. loanDepot – $13.4 billion

Top Purchase Mortgage Lenders in 2017 (By Number of Loans)

1. Wells Fargo – 159,302
2. Quicken Loans – 114,025
3. Caliber Home Loans – 85,487
4. Fairway Independent Mortgage – 75,810
5. Chase – 64,645
6. Shore Mortgage – 62,577
7. New American Funding – 54,653
8. Bank of America – 53,700
9. Guild Mortgage – 51,437
10. Flagstar Bank – 51,279

It also seems that the big banks, including Bank of America, Chase, and Wells are reaping the benefits of originating larger loans on average, since a larger loan isn’t necessarily harder to close than a smaller one. It can actually be a lot easier!

For the record, the numbers above do not include home improvement loans, manufactured homes, multi-family properties, or repurchases.

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