Credit Unions Now Account For Nearly One-In-Ten Home Mortgage Originations

WASHINGTON—Credit unions accounted for 9% of all mortgage originations in 2016, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data.
There were 1,939 credit unions that filed HMDA reports. A majority of credit unions (1,025) made fewer than 100 loans and 374 credit unions reported fewer than 25 loans, noted Keith Leggett, the former ABA exec, on his blog.
“Credit unions reported 215,000 home-purchase loans. Almost 87% of home-purchase loans were conventional mortgages. Credit unions, along with small banks, accounted for a highly disproportionate share of conventional higher-priced loans,” reported Leggett. “Five percent of credit unions' conventional loans were high-priced versus 3.7% of all conventional mortgages made by all lenders.”
Just a bit more than one quarter (25.2%) of all home-purchase loans were made to low-and moderate-income (LMI) borrowers and 13.2% were to LMI neighborhoods.
Credit unions reported 277,000 refinance loans, of which 96% were conventional loans, Leggett said, adding that credit unions sold about one-half of the home-purchase loans they originated and about 40% of the refinance loans they originated.