Pontiac-based United Wholesale Mortgage bounces back after losses, reports $228M Q2 profit

Pontiac-based United Wholesale Mortgage has swung back to profitability, just like its Detroit rival Rocket Companies.

UWM, the nation's top mortgage lender by volume, on Wednesday reported net income of $228.8 million in the second quarter. That profit followed back-to-back quarterly losses of $138.6 million in the first quarter of 2023 and $62.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.

United Wholesale Mortgage has its headquarters in Pontiac. The firm was previously known as United Shore.

UWM's total volume of mortgage originations was $31.8 billion in the second quarter, which coincided with spring home sales season, up from $22.3 billion in originations in the first quarter. The firm does not report total revenue figures.

"UWM continues to prove that regardless of the interest rate environment, our business model, coupled with the broker channel being the best place for a consumer to get a loan and the best place for a loan officer to work, is a winning formula," CEO Mat Ishbia said in a news release Wednesday morning.

"We are hiring right now, whereas the industry as a whole is continuing to cut back on capacity," he added. "Despite a historic decline in industry-wide origination volume during 2023, UWM remains profitable. Other management teams seem to have forgotten that during a mortgage boom, the majority of the opportunity is in the first six months. Companies that are not prepared for those events react late, hire late, train late and miss most of the opportunity."

More: Rocket Companies returns to profitability after back-to-back quarterly losses

More: In local and national mortgage war, is UWM's Mat Ishbia a genius or 'bully?'

UWM's Detroit-based rival Rocket Companies, the corporate parent of Rocket Mortgage, last week reported $139 million in net income in the second quarter — its first profitable quarter in six months.

UWM and other mortgage lenders have experienced a decline in business since early 2022 when mortgage rates started climbing, leading to fewer home purchases and less refinancing activity. UWM surpassed Rocket last year as the nation's top mortgage lender by volume.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mat Ishbia's United Wholesale Mortgage reports $228M Q2 profit