'Brokers are going to continue to win'
Prospects for the mortgage broker sector and overall mortgage market in 2025 are strong, according to a top executive at United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), with significant growth opportunity for the space even amid an uncertain economic climate and sticky mortgage rates.
Alex Elezaj (pictured top), the wholesale lender’s chief strategy officer, told Mortgage Professional America the continued recovery of broker market share from the wreckage of 2008, coupled with the mortgage market’s resilience even amid a difficult backdrop last year, suggested cause for optimism in the mortgage industry.
“Brokers are winning across the board and they’re going to continue to win,” he said. “We’re excited for 2025 and we still see a lot of opportunities for the channel to grow, and for more retail loan officers to come in. So we’re excited about the broker channel growth and our position in it.”
Elezaj was speaking with MPA shortly after UWM’s full-year financials showed the company’s loan production swelled in 2024 and net income topped $329 million despite the housing market seeing its most sluggish pace of sales activity for nearly three decades.
The performance of the broker space in that “generally tough year,” according to Elezaj, indicates brokers are well positioned to capitalize on a growing share of business in the years ahead. What’s more, it also appears poised to capture more defectors from the retail mortgage space.
“We saw broker market share at its highest levels in almost 15 years, at 27.4% through the third quarter, and there’s about 16,000 loan officers who joined the broker channel in 2024 with more than half of them coming over from retail – so the pie is getting bigger for us,” he said. “The broker channel continues to grow.”
Rates remain steady – but slight declines could be on the way
2025 started out with little change from last year on the mortgage rates front, with the average 30-year fixed rate hovering near 7% although the latest reading – 6.88%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) – marked the lowest rate since mid-December.
Applications also slowed last week, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist Joel Kan said in a release, but the association expects fixed rates to settle around the 6.5% mark by the end of the year in a sign of slight coming relief for US homebuyers.
Mortgage applications saw a 1.2% drop last week, with consumers becoming more cautious about the economy, according to the latest MBA Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.https://t.co/JKk5YZVoMt
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) February 26, 2025
Elezaj said UWM picked up “quite a bunch of business” after the 10-year Treasury yield, a leading indicator for 30-year fixed rates, slid last week, with its sights firmly set on tapping into further consumer enthusiasm if rates continue to dip.
Trump garners Ishbia support in earnings call
The lender’s president and chief executive officer (CEO) Mat Ishbia sounded a positive note on the future of the mortgage industry and market under the new Trump administration during Wednesday’s earnings call, describing a “positive change” from the president’s choices to regulate the space and taking a few potshots at the Biden White House’s relationship with the industry.
“I don’t mean disrespect to the past people but quite honestly, there was not a great connection to the industry,” Ishbia said. “The new FHFA [Federal Housing Finance Agency] director will be better, the new HUD [Department of Housing and Urban Development] director will be better, the new CFPB [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] will be better.”
If mortgage rates fall and market conditions improve, Ishbia raised the prospect of “a bull run like you probably haven’t seen since 2021.”
Elezaj echoed those sentiments in pointing to a brighter outlook for the year ahead, even despite continuing uncertainty over the regulatory future of the mortgage market and how Trump’s policies will impact the US economy and inflationary outlook.
“We’re just going to continue to operate at a very high level and produce high-quality loans,” he said. “And we’re obviously engaging with the new administration and we see a lot of upside. Obviously, being the number-one lender in the country, we have a seat at those tables – and we’re going to continue to look at it in an optimistic way and help out wherever we can.”
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