Mat Ishbia’s United Wholesale Mortgage returns to profitability

Mat Ishbia has a lot to celebrate these days, including an amusement park-like home under construction as well as the return of his company back into profitability.

Pontiac-based United Wholesale Mortgage’s performance mirrors its Detroit competitor, Rocket Companies, the Detroit Free Press reported. 

UWM, the purported top mortgage lender in the nation by volume, announced a net income of $228.8 million for the second quarter. This positive turnaround follows consecutive quarterly losses of $138.6 million in the first quarter of 2023 and $62.5 million in the last quarter of 2022.

During the second quarter, UWM’s mortgage origination volume surged to $31.8 billion, up from $22.3 billion in the first quarter, aligning with the spring home sales season, the outlet said.

Although specific revenue figures were not disclosed, Ishbia, UWM’s CEO, emphasized in a press release the company’s business model.

“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,” Ishbia said in the release, the outlet reported.

In contrast to the broader industry trend of capacity reduction, UWM’s proactive hiring strategy positions it favorably. Ishbia noted that many competitors often fail to capitalize on the early phases of a mortgage boom due to delayed reactions in hiring and training.

Rocket Companies, UWM’s rival and the parent company of Rocket Mortgage, recently announced its first profitable quarter in six months, with $139 million in net income for Q2. Both 

UWM and Rocket Companies have faced challenges since 2022, contending with rising mortgage rates that led to reduced home purchases and refinancing activity. UWM notably surpassed Rocket to become the top mortgage lender by volume the previous year.

Ishbia, the Phoenix Suns owner, is also building the state’s largest residential house in Bloomfield Township, just outside Detroit, that also has something akin to an amusement park, USAToday reported.

To make way for the extravagant, 60,000-square-foot mansion on 14 acres, Ishbia intends to demolish his current 22,000-square-foot house, which is only eight years old, along with five neighboring properties.

The new mansion will feature a wide array of lavish amenities, including the trampoline park, a basketball court with tall mesh screening, a large all-sports court, a treehouse, an “Enchanted Forest” enclosed by gates and masonry piers, a reflecting pool, climbing walls, and a 14-foot-tall waterfall, among other things, the outlet said.

 — Ted Glanzer