Last week, 334 originators switched companies and 1,312 individuals obtained their NMLS license. Notable originator movements last week include:
Figures are based on last 14 months’ production.
Top Gainers (non-Bank/CU):
Calculations based on last aggregate production of individual LO’s 14 months’ production. Excludes companies below $100M in 14mo LO production value after gains factored in.
More than 5,500 real estate agents have an inactive loan officer as their #1 preferred lending partner. Those agents represented over $15 billion in buyer-side sales volume in the past 12 months.
Last week, we examined the decline in producing mortgage loan officers.
At its peak in 2021, the industry had nearly 288,000 producing LOs. In 2026, that number has fallen to approximately 205,000.
That got us thinking.
When a loan officer leaves the industry, what happens to the real estate agents who depended on them?
We decided to investigate using RETR's mortgage production and agent relationship data.
5,588 Agents With an Inactive #1 Lending Partner
We identified real estate agents whose #1 preferred loan officer is now inactive.
Here's what we found:
Those relationships were concentrated among 2,524 unique inactive LOs, who collectively originated 49,936 loans totaling $18.06 billion over the measured 12-month period.
That's a meaningful amount of historical business associated with potentially disrupted lending relationships.
The Opportunity Gets Bigger When We Look at the Top Two
We expanded our analysis to include agents whose #1 or #2 preferred LO is inactive.
The numbers grew substantially:
Across those relationships, we identified 4,803 unique inactive LOs.
This broader view matters because agents don't always rely on just one lender. Some have multiple trusted partners, and losing one of them doesn't necessarily leave an agent without financing options.
But it can create an opening for another LO to earn more of that agent's business.
The Other Side of LO Attrition: Orphaned Agents
The mortgage industry talks a lot about orphaned borrowers.
But what about orphaned real estate agents?
When an LO exits the industry, their agent relationships don't simply disappear.
Those agents are still helping buyers purchase homes. They still need financing partners who can deliver.
And someone will have an opportunity to earn that trust.
Of course, not every agent in our analysis is truly orphaned. Some already have established secondary lending relationships.
But that's precisely why relationship intelligence matters.
Knowing an agent's preferred LOs, their transaction history, and how consistently they work together helps distinguish a genuinely disrupted relationship from one where another lender is already well positioned.
Acquisition Opportunity or Retention Warning?
There are two sides to these findings.
For lenders looking to grow: Thousands of agents have potentially disrupted lending relationships. Understanding where those relationships exist can help identify opportunities that traditional prospecting might miss.
For lenders focused on retention: Losing an LO can mean more than losing that individual's production. It can put an entire network of referral relationships at risk.
And in an industry where acquiring new customers is expensive, protecting existing relationships may be just as valuable as finding new ones.
Relationships Don't Disappear. They Change.
The $15.05 billion in buyer-side sales volume associated with agents whose #1 LO is inactive isn't a pool of guaranteed mortgage opportunities.
Neither is the broader $43.26 billion associated with agents whose top two relationships include an inactive LO.
But these figures illustrate something important.
LO attrition doesn't just change mortgage company headcounts. It changes the industry's relationship landscape.
And as the number of producing loan officers continues to contract, understanding those changes may become an increasingly important competitive advantage.
The question for mortgage leaders isn't simply how many LOs are leaving.
It's whether you know which relationships are becoming vulnerable — both inside and outside your organization.
Source: RETR mortgage production and real estate relationship intelligence. Transaction and loan production figures reflect the measured trailing 12-month period. Historical sales volume is not equivalent to available mortgage origination volume.
When it comes to mortgage market intelligence, you have a handful of options, and RETR is one that truly stands out. Here’s what Dane Zompetti, a top producer at A-Z Lending has to say about RETR: “I love RETR. The data they have is the best I’ve seen and it is packaged in a way that is easy to read and find. Knowing more data points on the transactions around me has allowed me to create meaningful relationships.”
But you don’t have to take their word for it. RETR offers a free trial to individuals and organizations to judge the quality of the data and insights for themselves.