United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) has retained its position as the top loan origination volume leader in the US mortgage industry for the second consecutive quarter. Additionally, UWM has recorded a staggering 54% share of the wholesale channel in Q4 of 2022, which is a remarkable increase from the previous quarter’s 41%. The company also secured an 11% share of the overall mortgage market.
UWM’s Chairman and CEO Mat Ishbia boasted about the all-time market share record in the wholesale channel during a webcast with analysts, attributing it to the company’s Game On pricing strategy launched in June 2022. In Q4 of 2022, the total originations for UWM were $25.1 billion, which included $21.7 billion in purchase volume as of December 31.
For eight years in a row, UWM has been the largest wholesale mortgage lender in the US by closed loan volume, with a market share of approximately 38% of the wholesale channel for the full year ended December 31. The company achieved an 8% share of the overall mortgage market in 2022.
While UWM originated an impressive number of loans in Q4, the dollar volume was still lower than that of Q3 ($33.5 billion) and Q4 of 2021 ($55.2 billion). Purchase originations were also on a downward trend, with the company reporting $27.7 billion in Q4 and $24.5 billion in the same period the previous year. This trend is reflective of the overall industry given the current housing market conditions.
UWM’s originations for the full year totaled $127.3 billion, which was down 43.8% from $226.5 billion in 2021. However, purchase origination achieved a record of $90.8 billion in 2022, up 4% from $87.3 billion in 2021.
The total gain on margin dropped steadily to 51 basis points (bps) in Q4 compared to 52 bps in the previous quarter and 80 bps in Q4 of last year. The total gain margin of 77 bps in 2022 was significantly lower than the 114 bps reported in 2021.
Although total equity was approximately the same as the previous year at $3.2 billion, it was still lower than the $3.4 billion recorded at the end of Q3.
