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Mortgage Market Intel #10 -  Mar 9, 2026

Picture of James Hooper

Market Movers

Last week, 274 originators switched companies and 1,238 individuals obtained their NMLS license. Notable originator movements last week include:

Figures are based on last 14 months’ production.

Market Movers (Companies)

Top Gainers (non-Bank/CU):

  1. Spartan Lending LLC +15.64%
  2. Republic State Mortgage Co. +15.13%
  3. The Mortgage Link, Inc. +6.3%
  4. Green Lending LLC +5.66%
  5. Beeline Loans, Inc. +4.59%
  6. POINT MORTGAGE CORPORATION +3.03%
  7. Aspire Home Loans, LLC +2.25%
  8. Copeland Mortgage Company +2.07%
  9. Mission Loans, LLC +2.01%
  10. ZOOM HOME LENDING LLC +1.94%

Calculations based on last aggregate production of individual LO’s 14 months’ production for companies with at least 20 loan officers. Excludes companies below $100M in 14mo LO production value after gains factored in.


RETR Newsletter-10-LO Count

The Mortgage LO Workforce Is Settling Around 200,000 

Each March, the mortgage industry gets a clear snapshot of its workforce when the NMLS renewal grace period ends.

As of March 3, 2026, there are 200,306 active loan officers who originated at least one mortgage in 2025.

To understand the significance of that number, consider the trend over the past several years:

2019: 240,786
2020: 262,554
2021: 287,728
2022: 283,641
2023: 234,919
2024: 219,917
2025: 224,902

The industry peaked during the refinance boom with 287,728 producing LOs in 2021. As rates surged and refinance volume collapsed, the workforce steadily contracted.

Renewal season reveals another important dynamic: not everyone who produces in a year stays in the business.

For example, although 219,917 LOs originated a loan in 2024, once the renewal grace period ended on March 1, 2025, only 197,907 remained active.

The same pattern repeated this year. Even though 224,902 loan officers closed at least one loan in 2025, the industry entered 2026 with 200,306 active LOs.

In other words, roughly 24,600 originators who produced last year are no longer active today.

Housing Activity Remains Low

The workforce contraction mirrors the housing slowdown. Existing home sales have fallen from 6.12 million in 2021 to 4.06 million in both 2024 and 2025.

However, the National Association of Realtors forecasts a roughly 14% increase in 2026, which would push existing home sales to about 4.63 million transactions.

Meanwhile, the number of producing real estate agents remains massive:

2023: 1,094,369
2024: 1,089,402
2025: 1,057,455

That leaves over one million agents competing for roughly four million home sales annually.

The Race to Own the Borrower

Another shift shaping the mortgage workforce is the growing push by lenders to own the end-to-end consumer relationship.

Recent moves highlight this strategy:

    • Rocket acquiring Mr. Cooper and Redfin
    • UWM partnering with Two Harbors
    • PennyMac acquiring Cenlar’s subservicing business

Servicing portfolios give lenders access to millions of borrowers and create the largest captive refinance audience in the industry.

AI Is Changing the Equation

Historically, lenders preparing for a refinance cycle would ramp hiring to handle the surge in volume.

But advances in AI-driven borrower monitoring and automated outreach may allow lenders to capture refinance demand without dramatically expanding their LO workforce.

Instead of manual calling campaigns, lenders can now detect refinance triggers, monitor equity positions, and initiate outreach automatically.

At RETR, we are already seeing loan officers use data and AI-enabled engagement to monitor past borrowers and identify refinance, equity, and MI removal opportunities in real time.

A New Baseline

The data increasingly suggests the mortgage industry may be settling into a baseline of roughly 200,000 active producing loan officers.

That is far below the refinance boom peak, but it may also represent a more productive and technology-enabled workforce.

If home sales rebound and rates fall meaningfully, the next cycle will test whether the industry truly needs to rebuild the massive LO workforce of the past - or whether data, servicing relationships, and AI-driven outreach allow a leaner workforce to capture the opportunity.

Upcoming RETR Training

  • Mon, Mar 9 @ 2p ET - Intro to RETR: The Modern Loan Officer’s Data Advantage Register
    An overview of the many tools available to you in RETR – from agent and LO research, to list building and bulk contact exports, and borrower retention and refi finder tools, and more!
  • Wed, Mar 11 @ 12p ET - The Recruiting Advantage: How Top Lenders Win Loan Officers with Data, Not Guesswork Register
    Learn how to identify, prioritize, and recruit the right loan officers using real production data, relationship intelligence, and proven insights. This class is for leaders who want to recruit with precision-not volume.
  • Thurs, Mar 12 @ 2p ET - Intro to RETR: The Modern Loan Officer’s Data Advantage Register
    An overview of the many tools available to you in RETR – from agent and LO research, to list building and bulk contact exports, and borrower retention and refi finder tools, and more!

Is RETR Better?

When it comes to mortgage market intelligence, you have a handful of options, and RETR is one that truly stands out. Here’s what Ken Rife, top producer at Mutual of Omaha Mortgage has to say about RETR: “RETR has helped me focus my attention towards partners I would have likely neglected to follow up with. It has specifically helped me GROW my team as we have added 3 originators to our team within the last year and much of that has been from data we got from RETR!”

RETR Newsletter-10-LO Count-19_User Testimonial - Ken Rife

But you don’t have to take their word for it. RETR offers a free trial to loan officers, branches, and mortgage companies to judge the quality of the data and insights for themselves.