There are 3 things that tell the truth: small children, drunk people, and yoga pants. HMDA data is close behind. Warning: sobering thoughts ahead, and not only the headlines about credit scores and mortgage pricing, officials trying to devise a plan for First Republic’s future, or two 80-year old white men posturing about the country’s future. Residential lenders at the recent MBA STRATMOR Peer Group meeting in Atlanta were looking at units, and I asked the MBA’s Joel Kan about some stats on fundings per year: 13.7 million in 2020, 14.2 million in 2021, 6.4 million in 2022 (awaiting final HMDA data in June), and 5.0 million forecast for 2023. That puts 2023’s fundings at about 1/3 of 2021’s. Forget overall volume numbers, since the loan sizes have moved higher… Have you reduced your expectations and staff, both in ops and production, to match a 66 percent decline in units? Or do you expect to grab market share through superior products, pricing, and service? (Today’s podcast can be found here and is sponsored by LoanCare, a Fidelity National Financial (NYSE: FNF) division and award-winning developer of the most sophisticated mortgage servicing portfolio management tool, LoanCare Analytics, built to support MSR investors with a focus on customer engagement, liquidity, and credit risk. Listen to an interview with MGIC’s Concepcion Guerrero on the Hispanic borrowing community and lender opportunities to gain market share amongst that demographic.) Lender and Broker Products, Services, and Software