United Wholesale Mortgage nets $326M in 3Q profit, surpasses Rocket in 1 key measure

JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press
·2 min read
United Wholesale Mortgage has its headquarters in Pontiac. The firm was previously known as United Shore.
United Wholesale Mortgage has its headquarters in Pontiac. The firm was previously known as United Shore.

Pontiac-based United Wholesale Mortgage managed to raise its profit and mortgage volume despite a slowing market in the mortgage business, earning $326 million in net income in the third quarter.

The company also reported a total volume of nearly $33.5 billion in mortgage originations, which, for the first time ever, surpassed that of Dan Gilbert's Rocket Mortgage, the nation's top mortgage lender by volume since 2018.

UWM's net income for the quarter, $325.6 million, was higher than its $215.4 million in the second quarter. It fell short of its $329.9 million in the third quarter of 2021.

UWM does not report total revenue figures.

More:Rocket Companies sees $96M profit as mortgage volume falls

More:Compuware could leave downtown Detroit for Southfield

The corporate parent of Rocket Mortgage on Thursday reported $25.6 billion in originations for the third quarter and $96 million in net income, or profit.

Rocket is still No. 1 in the nation for mortgage volume for all three quarters of the year ($114 billion), although UWM, at $102 billion, is starting to close the gap.

Rocket's financial performance has been greatly impacted by the slowdown in mortgage refinancing activity, prompted by rising interest rates. Refinancing has traditionally been a major profit center for Rocket.

UWM, unlike Rocket, does not do direct-to-consumer loans. All of its business is underwriting loans for independent mortgage brokers, known as "wholesale" lending, which typically has lower margins.

Rocket also continues to exceed UWM on profit margins per loan, averaging 2.69% during the third quarter compared with UWM's 0.52% margins.

UWM CEO Mat Ishbia was very upbeat Friday morning during an earnings call with Wall Street analysts.

“We are excited to be hosting this call as the No. 1 overall mortgage lender in America," Ishbia said. “There has never been a 100% wholesale lender that has earned this title, and we are very proud to be No. 1.”

A representative for Rocket was not immediately available for comment Friday morning.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: United Wholesale Mortgage nets $326M in 3Q, surpasses Rocket in volume