Chart of the Week: Facilities/Sublimits Offered by Warehouse Lenders

Source: MBA’s Warehouse Lending Survey

MBA’s Warehouse Lending Survey – from which the results are now available for sale to non-participants – tracks the various types of facilities and/or sublimits that warehouse lenders fund for their non-depository clients. This week’s Chart of the Week provides insight into the products and market segments that warehouse lenders offer.

Almost all of the 26 warehouse lenders in this quarter’s survey fund warehouse lines for residential first mortgages held for sale (including conventional loans and government loans), representing 96 percent of the participating sample. Of these warehouse lenders, 88 percent also fund non-QM loans, and the majority fund business purpose loans, such as debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) loans, as well as held-for-sale construction and renovation loans, such as Fannie Mae HomeStyle, Freddie Mac CHOICE, or FHA 203k loans.

Given home equity accumulation for many homeowners in recent years, second mortgage funding is offered by nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of warehouse lenders in this sample – a survey-high since MBA first started tracking this data in the first quarter of 2024. Funding for open-ended home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), meanwhile, is offered by one-quarter (27 percent) of warehouse lenders.

Reverse mortgages represent the third-most prevalent form of funding at 42 percent and offer another option for borrowers to tap into their home equity. Other facility types that are utilized include 1) MSR financing; 2) Ginnie Mae Early Buyouts; 3) other held-for-investment construction loans; 4) loan repurchases for early payment defaults (EPDs) and early payoffs (EPOs); 5) servicing advances for principal and interest, taxes, and insurance, and 6) “other”, which includes funds for working capital, hospital lines, bridge loans, and other held-for-sale products not funded on warehouse lines for first mortgages.

If you are a warehouse lender that is interested in participating in MBA’s survey, please reach out to Jon Penniman at jpenniman@mba.org. Starting this quarter, non-warehouse lenders can purchase these quarterly results as a single product or an annual subscription on our webstore at: www.mba.org/warehouselending.