It’s time to take a look at the top non-QM lenders in 2021, the most recent year available.
It has been a topsy-turvy few years in the mortgage industry, especially for non-QM lending.
The big increase in mortgage rates from the start of 2022 onward, coupled with COVID-19-related disruptions, made things difficult for all mortgage lenders.
Still, some mortgage companies were able to originate billions in non-QM loans despite these headwinds.
Let’s see which companies topped the list.
Top Non-QM Lenders in 2021
| Ranking | Lender Name | 2021 Non-QM Loan Volume |
| 1. | Fairway Independent | $6.2 billion |
| 2. | Angel Oak | $3.9 billion |
| 3. | Guaranteed Rate | $2.3 billion |
| 4. | CoreVest Finance | $2.1 billion |
| 5. | Acra Lending | $2.1 billion |
| 6. | CIVIC Financial | $1.7 billion |
| 7. | A&D Mortgage | $1.5 billion |
| 8. | Oaktree Funding | $1.3 billion |
| 9. | Homebridge Financial | $1.1 billion |
| 10. | A&N Mortgage | $987 million |
In first by a wide margin was Madison, Wisconsin-based Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp.
The company originated $6.2 billion in non-QM loans in 2021, per stats from the Scotsman Guide.
That represented about 8.5% of their total annual production of $72.5 billion.
Coming in second was Atlanta-based Angel Oak Lending with $3.9 billion funded. That was apparently their total production as they only appear to dabble in non-QM lending.
In third was Chicago-based Guaranteed Rate with $2.3 billion, a small portion of the near-$77 billion they funded in 2021.
Fourth place went to Irvine, CA-based CoreVest Finance and its $2.1 billion total. They originated another $100 million or so via other products.
Rounding out the top five was Lake Forest, CA-based Acra Lending, which originated $2.1 billion as well. All of their loan volume was non-QM.
The bottom half of the top-10 included CIVIC Financial Services out of Redondo Beach, A&D Mortgage from Hollywood, Florida, Oaktree Funding from Chandler, AZ, Homebridge Financial from Iselin, NJ, and A&N Mortgage out of Chicago.
Year-Over-Year Changes Illustrate Volatility in Non-QM
The list was quite a bit different than the one a year earlier, where American Pacific Mortgage led.
This pretty much illustrates the volatility of non-QM lending. They didn’t even make the top-25.
However, Angel Oak held steady in second place both years.
Other than that, the lists between the two years were almost completely different.
Aside from that volatility, it tells you no one lender has stepped up to rule the non-QM space, other than maybe Angel Oak.
It makes sense, as at last glance, the list of non-QM lenders is vast.
It was also impressive to see Fairway Independent become a leader in the space in a short period of time. We’ll see if the trend continued into 2022.
You can see the list of top non-QM lenders for 2020 here.
(photo: Marcin Wichary)