Home Point ends two repurchase agreements amid stagnant borrowing

Home Point Capital, parent company of wholesale lender Homepoint, ended two master repurchase agreements in the face of rapidly diminishing mortgage origination volumes this year.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company terminated an agreement with Credit Suisse last week. The contract with the investment bank was issued in the summer of 2020 for a maximum aggregate price of $300 million, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The filing comes following a similar cancellation of a $325 million master repurchase agreement in late September between Home Point and Morgan Stanley Bank. That agreement, also signed in summer 2020, had included committed financing of $162 million. 

Both agreements had scheduled maturity dates in 2023, and the terminations were mutually agreed upon by each party, with no penalties owed by Home Point. 

Also in mid September, the lender amended another master repurchase agreement with UBS, extending the expiration date for one year while reducing the maximum aggregate purchase price to $200 million from $500 million. Altogether, Home Point has cut funding capacity by $925 million over the past month.

The moves are just the latest in several cost-cutting actions Home Point has undertaken this year, as rising interest rates and other economic concerns have led to a dearth of new originations. In the second quarter, the company reported a net loss of $44 million as it also dealt with pricing battles initiated by competing wholesale lenders. 

This summer, Home Point issued layoff notices to hundreds of employees, a move expected to save over $100 million. It also offloaded its correspondent-lending business in a sale to Planet Home Lending and outsourced servicing functions. The company finished the second quarter with funding capacity of $1.91 billion, compared to $2.72 billion at the end of March.

Home Point is not the only leading industry player reducing funding capacity as it encounters shrinking revenue shrinks. LoanDepot recently eliminated its wholesale lending division, similarly ending a master repurchase agreement, as well as announced plans to cut thousands of jobs. Other smaller lenders, such as AmeriSave and Mountain West, have also exited the wholesale space entirely.

At the same time, in other signs of headwinds facing mortgage companies, Angel Oak Mortgage last month also received a second extension of its $400 million master repurchase agreement with Barclays Bank, according to an SEC filing. Originally set to terminate on Sept. 20, the agreement was amended to expire on Oct. 14.

Origination volume has fallen off by 69% year over year, according to the latest numbers from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Earlier this week, researchers at Fannie Mae forecasted a 49% falloff in annual production to $2.33 trillion this year, compared to $4.57 trillion in 2021.