Origination volume for FHA-insured loans increased by 3% in 2021, growing from $324 billion in 2020 to $332.24 billion, an analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data by Polygon Research application HMDAVision found.
Of the origination volume, retail lenders originated $276.4 billion worth of FHA loans, while wholesale lenders originated $57.64 billion.
The top FHA mortgage originator by volume was Freedom Mortgage Corp., originating $25.5 billion worth of loans, a 16% decline from 2020.
Rocket Mortgage came in a close second by volume, increasing originations by 54% year-over-year to $25.48 billion, while United Wholesale Mortgage came in third, originating $11.6 billion, a whopping 71% increase from 2020.
Caliber Home Loans, acquired by New Residential Investment Corp. in 2021, came in fourth place, originating $10.2 billion worth of loans. Maryland-based Lakeview Loan Servicing nabbed fifth place, originating $8.1. billion, which was up 71% year over year.
Fairway Independent Mortgage originated $8.1 billion, up 7% from 2020, while California based loanDepot’s originations dipped by 1.25% from 2020 to $7.1 billion.
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To round out the top-10 FHA lenders, Nationstar Mortgage originated $7 billion, PennyMac Financial originated $6.89 billion — an increase of 112.02% year-over-year — and CrossCountry Mortgage originated $6.7 billion worth of FHA loans.
The HMDA data also revealed that the average FHA loan size in 2021 was $251,371, while the average interest rate was 3.03%.
Wells Fargo, which originated $1 billion worth of FHA loans, had an average 3.37% interest rate on FHA loans in 2021, while Fairway Independent Mortgage had an average interest rate of 3.27%. loanDepot had an average interest rate of 3.23% for FHA loans and Nationstar Mortgage had average interest rates of 3.22%.
Millennials made up 57% of applicants for FHA loans in 2021, with borrowers in the age bracket of 25 to 34 making up 28.1% of applicants, while borrowers ranging from 35 to 44 represented 28.9% of FHA applicants. Applicants in the 55 to 64 age bracket made up a mere 10.1%, HMDAVision shows.
