Mortgage brokers, who continue to be shunned by major lenders, private mortgage insurers and the secondary market, watched their share of new mortgages fall to a record low of just 17 percent in the first quarter of 2009, according to new numbers scheduled to be released this week by Inside Mortgage Finance. The broker share was down from 22 percent a year earlier and the record high of 31 percent set back in 2005.
Surprisingly, the retail share of new mortgage lending was also down on a year-over-year basis, dropping from 52 percent in 1Q08 to 46 percent in 1Q09. Meanwhile, the correspondent share of originations–boosted by a resurgence in community bank and credit union mortgage lending–has risen from 27 to 37 percent over the past year.
