Stearns named No. 1 residential wholesale lender

Stearns Lending has been named the nation’s top residential wholesale lender for 2013 with a record-breaking $9.8 billion in total wholesale funding volume last year

Stearns Lending has been named the nation’s top residential wholesale lender for 2013 with a record-breaking $9.8 billion in total wholesale funding volume last year.

That’s a 10% increase over Stearns’ total wholesale volume for 2012. The company also captured 5.2% of the market share in 2013, a 51% spike over 2012, as well as getting 6.7% of the wholesale market share in the fourth quarter. Stearns saw a huge spike in their purchase loan share; purchase loans were 41% of their total volume in 2013, up from 28% in 2012.

“Our commitment to wholesale lending and industry leadership in this production channel fueled the achievement of this significant milestone in 2013,” said Stearns founder and chairman Glenn Stearns.

“A tremendous ‘thank you’ goes out to all our brokers for their support, feedback, and integral role in Stearns’ achievement as the nation’s leading wholesale lender,” said Michael Royer, Stearns executive vice president and national director of wholesale.

Stearns is also focusing on increasing its retail channel growth, according to a news release. To that end, the company has hired industry vet Tom Hunt to lead its retail expansion efforts, as well as establishing joint ventures with three industry partners.

Stearns has also seen dramatic material servicing portfolio growth in the last two years, with $25 billion in mortgage servicing rights as of February compared to just $1.4 billion in March of 2012.

“As the mortgage market underwent rapid change during the latter half of 2013, the Stearns leadership team preemptively implemented sound strategies that enabled us to experience controlled growth, and increase market share during a period when all lenders faced challenges,” said CEO Brian Hale. “Stearns has devoted extensive resources to enhancing its technology, support, and services infrastructure across all channels in order to ensure that we provide our customers the best service available. The industry will continue to see an increased diversification of our origination channels, which includes further expansion of our already strong presence in the retail channel.”