There’s a Silver Lining for Mortgage Companies in a Bleak Market

There is good news and bad news for big mortgage originators: The market is shrinking.

Originators that make mortgages and sell them into the market such as Rocket Cos. and UWM Holdings have recently reported continuing drops in home-loan volumes for the fourth quarter. That was to be expected, as overall U.S. single-family home-mortgage originations dropped from over half a trillion dollars in the third quarter to about $400 billion in the fourth quarter, according to figures compiled by Fannie Mae. Both purchases and refinancings declined. And though mortgage rates this year have been below the highs they reached last year, Fannie Mae’s recent forecast still is for under $1.7 trillion in single-family mortgage originations in 2023, versus nearly $2.4 trillion in 2022.