Chart of the Week: IMB Net Production Income

Independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks reported a pre-tax net production profit of 17 basis points (or $674 per originated loan) in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) newly released Quarterly Mortgage Bankers Performance Report. This report was lower than third quarter 2025 results of 33 basis points (or $1,201 per loan), but higher than previous fourth quarters from 2022 to 2024.

For this week’s Chart of the Week, we highlight the average net production income across all fourth quarters from 2008 to 2025 in basis points and dollars per loan. Barring a significant refinancing wave like 2012 and 2020, net production profits in the fourth quarter tend to be lower than in the second and third quarters, when the spring homebuying season is underway.  Across all these fourth quarters, net production profits averaged 24 basis points, or $519 per loan. While the most recent fourth quarter saw net profits below the historical average in basis points, rising average first mortgage loan balances reached almost $380,000 and contributed to higher-than-average net income in dollars per loan.

Note: Pre-tax net production income is defined as total revenues (fee income, secondary marketing income, value of capitalized servicing/servicing released premiums at origination and net warehouse spread) minus fully-loaded production costs (sales, fulfillment, production support and corporate costs), divided by production volume in dollars ($), multiplied by 10,000 for basis points, and divided by loan production count for dollars per loan. 

– Jenny Masoud (jmasoud@mba.org); Marina Walsh, CMB (mwalsh@mba.org)