Goodbye, retail. Hello wholesale?

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Hello, LOs!

United Wholesale Mortgage held its earnings call this morning, and as is almost always the case, executives looked on the bright side, despite forecasts of falling production and declining margins.

UWM CEO Mat Ishbia told analysts that retail lenders will see significant margin compression in 2022, while UWM has basically hit the floor already.

"Do I think that margins are going to go up in the second, third, and fourth quarters? Yes, or flat, but they will not go down, is my perspective," Ishbia said. "I don't see it (margins) going lower than the 75 bps, 85 bps, basically."

According to Ishbia, UWM sees the competitive pressures as an opportunity to lure loan officers from the retail channel to the broker space, boosting the company's wholesale market share, which was estimated to be 31% at the end of 2021.

"It's a business development strategy," he said on the call. "It's working fantastically."

LOs, do you believe 2022 is the year of the exodus from retail to wholesale? If you're working at a retail shop, are you thinking about making the move? Why or why not? Email me at jkleimann@housingwire.com.

James Kleimann

Managing Editor, HousingWire

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