These Lenders Made the Most Mortgages in 2022

The top lenders in America in 2022 featured some familiar names in the world of mortgages. One notable change for 2022 was more traditional depositories (bank organizations that can accept deposits) cracked into the top 10. This reflects a greater confidence in working with banks for mortgage loans versus dedicated lenders.

In a recent post at National Mortgage News, the statistics suggested that while many of the top names were familiar, there was still movement among the top ten mortgage lenders in the US. Even though mortgage demand is down, there’s still activity in the market. Here’s what’s been happening in the world of mortgage lenders and what it says about the market:

The Top Three Lenders in the United States

Looking at the Loan Application Register data from reporting via the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the top three lenders were as follows:

• Rocket Mortgage
• United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM)
• LoanDepot

The first two especially dominated the list. Rocket Mortgage issued over 464,000 loans, while UWM issued nearly 350,000. LoanDepot was closer to the rest of the names on the top ten list, coming in at about 156,000 loans issued.

Wells Fargo held onto its fourth place position thanks to about 142,000 loans issued. One notable drop for depository banks was JP Morgan Chase’s drop to eighth place on the list when compared to data from 2021. However, the rest of the list included many household name banks like US Bank and PNC. In the bottom half of the rankings, traditional depositories held top spots.

This suggests that marketwide, people are talking to household name banks for their mortgage loans even though lenders like Rocket Mortgage had the largest market share.

What You Can Learn About the Top 10 Mortgage Lenders

What can the average home buyer glean from a list like this? For starters, it will help if we break down the data. While it might help to know that a mortgage lender like Rocket Mortgage has earned the trust of 464,000 home buyers over the past year, there’s more to find in the data if you’re willing to look for it.

So we did look. We found additional data available through Bankrate.com, which helped put the mortgages into context. Here’s what we found out about the top ten list:

• Rocket Mortgage: Although Rocket Mortgage’s 464,000 loans made it the leading lender on the list, the effects of the 2022 rises in interest rates on new mortgages were still evident. Rocket Mortgage made 1.2 million loans in 2021, according to Bankrate, totalling $340 billion. The number for 2022 was just $127 billion total, creating an average loan of around $273,000 based on the arithmetic.
• United Wholesale Mortgage. Despite originating 348,000 loans, or significantly fewer than Rocket Mortgage, UWM loaned about about the same amount of money. This suggests that UWM in 2022 tended to lend to home buyers who were looking either in higher valued markets or needed more financing to buy their homes, since the same calculation pointed to an average of $364,000.
• LoanDepot. LoanDepot remained in the number three spot, but it also had a higher average than Rocket Mortgage. Its $53 billion in loans averaged out to about $339,000 across its 156,000 loans.
• Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo made some news earlier in 2023 that it was going to cut back on how many mortgages it lent out. This suggests that while Wells Fargo remained in the number four spot from 2021, it will likely drop down the list in 2024.
• Fairway Independent Mortgage originated some 128,000 loans for $41 billion, landing it at number five on the list.
• Bank of America. Another top depositor bank, Bank of America was back on the top ten list after an absence in 2021, which suggests that the bank has made its mortgage products a new emphasis. That could be a trend that continues through 2023.
• US Bank was also returning to the top ten, though its average loan was much smaller than Bank of America’s. Bank of America lent out about 121,000 loans for $54 billion while U.S. Bank lent out a similar number of loans for a smaller $43 billion.
• JP Morgan Chase was one of the biggest droppers on the list, though its average loan amount (over $600,000) was among the top on the list, and the highest in the top ten. This suggests that while JP Morgan Chase decreased its new loans, it shifted focus to high-value loans where there might have been more confidence in returns. This suggests some belt-tightening in JP Morgan Chase’s mortgage policy.
• PNC Bank was another one of the top depositor banks making the list, issuing about 108,000 loans worth about $37 billion in total.
• Citizens Bank rounded out the list at about 100,000 loans for $25 billion lent out total, a smaller average than PNC Bank.

The trend hints that depositor banks issued cheaper loans compared to some of their competitors. For example, JP Morgan Chase dropped down the list despite issuing high-value loans, as the list was counted on the number of loans originated, and not on how much money transacted.

It also suggests borrowers are looking for familiar names including their depositor banks when looking for home loans. If conditions remain tight and mortgage rates continue rising in 2023, don’t be surprised to see similar trends play out among the top 10 when the numbers come out in 2024.