Guild Mortgage continued its record growth in 2015, led by its Northwest Region.
Nationally, Guild generated loan volume of $13.8 billion in 2015, up 86.1 percent from $7.4 billion in 2014. Its servicing volume reached $22.3 billion in 2015, up 34 percent from $16.6 billion in 2014. Purchase loan volume was $9.8 billion, up 63 percent from 2014 and representing 71 percent of all loans.
The Northwest Region, including Washington and Oregon, generated loan volume of $3.4 billion in 2015, up 91 percent from $1.8 billion in 2014. Its number of loans reached 13,306 in 2015 in the Northwest, up 79 percent from 7,452 in 2014. The average loan size in the region for 2015 was $257,696, up 7 percent from $240,724 in 2014.
“We are seeing continued economic growth in the region and strength in lending to both first-time homebuyers and an active move-up market,” said Charles Nay, senior vice president and regional manager. “Guild has continued to benefit from the high-performing team joining us from Northwest Mortgage in November 2014. With their help, we closed over $1.6 billion in loans in Oregon in 2015 with $1.2 billion of the total from purchase loans, making Guild the largest purchase loan lender in the state. We anticipate continued growth in 2016 in existing branches in the Northwest and entering new markets.”
The top five branches in the Northwest Region during 2015 included two from Oregon and three from Washington: Lake Oswego, Ore., $485.2 million; Lynnwood, $338.1 million; Bellevue, $295.1 million; Portland, Ore., $290.3 million; and Tacoma, $204.9 million.
The average size of a loan closed in the Northwest Region of $257,696 was higher than the national Guild average loan of $228,707 in 2015, up 8.3 percent from $211,166. The top five regions in average loan value in 2015 for Guild were: Hawaii, $415,147; California Coastal, $324,548; California Inland, $281,672; Northwest, $257,696; and Midwest, $237,460.
After the Northwest, the California Coastal Region was Guild’s second largest, with loan volume of $1.9 billion, up 56 percent, followed by the Southwest ($1.3 billion), Texas ($1.0 billion), the Mountain region ($928.1 million) and California Inland ($857.9 million).
“Northwest Mortgage has been a great addition, with a customer service culture and entrepreneurial spirit that mirrored ours,” said Mary Ann McGarry, Guild CEO. “As a leading independent mortgage banking company, Guild was able to add a broader array of mortgage products to their mix. This gave homebuyers more options, which is reflected in the region’s growth in 2015 and continued momentum in the first quarter of 2016.
