First-quarter mortgage originations were down 6.2 percent from Q4 2012 but shot 13.8 percent over last year's figures, according to ""_Mortgage Daily's_"":http://www.mortgagedaily.com/ _First-Quarter 2013 Mortgage Lender Ranking_.
[IMAGE]Estimated Q1 originations by all U.S. lenders came out to about $505 billion, according to _Mortgage Daily_. The Mortgage Market Index from _Mortgage Daily_ and ""LoanSifter"":https://www.loansifter.com/index.aspx show second-quarter business is set to increase 13 percent quarter-over-quarter.
[COLUMN_BREAK]Though its market share slipped, Wells Fargo kept the No. 1 spot with 22 percent share. Chase came in second with 11 percent, followed by Quicken (5 percent), Bank of America (5 percent), and U.S. Bank (4 percent).
Stonegate Mortgage posted the biggest quarterly improvement in originations, seeing a 36 percent increase, according to _Mortgage Daily_. BofA and SunTrust Mortgage each increased business by about 11 percent. In total, 15 mortgage bankers reported increased production compared to the prior quarter.
Ally Financial saw the biggest decline in production, reporting 38 percent less than Q4 2012. Originations also fell substantially at Provident Funding (28 percent decline) and PrimeLending (24 percent).
On the servicing side, Wells Fargo, BofA, and Chase continued to hold the top three spots (respectively) among the biggest residential loan servicers, despite the fact that each firm reduced its portfolio over the quarter.
However, portfolios expanded more than $100 billion each at Ocwen (No. 4), Nationstar (No. 6), and Walter Mortgage (No. 8).