Good afternoon —
Underwriters are having a moment. It started in 2020, when origination volume spiked dramatically, fueling a hiring boom for operations staff, including underwriters. Compensation went through the roof and companies had to find creative ways to attract and keep top talent.
This year's swing to more purchase loans has just intensified the underwriter shortage, and now there's a new wrinkle: the rise of the private label securitization market. That means underwriters are in demand at both the front end and back end of the origination process, but the talent pool hasn't gotten any deeper.
Senior Mortgage Reporter Bill Conroy is documenting the causes and effects of the underwriter shortage in a three-part series for our HW+ members. He's interviewed executives at more than half a dozen companies, including TPR firms, loan-trading companies and bond-rating agencies who outlined the struggle.
From the second article: Michael Franco, CEO of New York-based SitusAMC, one of the largest TPR firms in the business, said his company has added 2,400 employees organically over the past two years, not counting personnel added through acquisitions. He stressed that is across all facets of the organization, including underwriters for residential mortgage originations and private-label securitizations as well as the firm's commercial operations.
"We had about 2,800 employees as of December 2019 across residential and commercial, and now we're up to 7,300 [including organic hires and employees added via acquisitions]," Franco said. "Are we planning to double the size of the firm every two years? Probably not. But we will continue to hire as needed."
Read part 1 here and part 2 here, and look for part 3 tomorrow! Not an HW+ member yet? Join here.
Until tomorrow —
Sarah Wheeler
HousingWire Editor in Chief
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