Lancaster Pollard generated the largest volume of activity in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Lean mortgage program for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, according to the company.
Over the course of the fiscal year, 291 loans were closed by 40 lenders. The Columbus, OH-based Lancaster Pollard closed 65 loans totaling $531 million, or 22.3% of the total loans and 19.7% of the total loan amount. The firm says it has been the top HUD Lean lender since fiscal year 2010.
HUD’s Lean mortgage program closed $2.7 billion in loan volume in the recently ended fiscal year, a reduction of 35.7% compared with the previous year’s total of $4.2 billion and 53.4% less than HUD’s record total of $5.8 billion in 2013.
“While the historically high volume HUD experienced in 2013 and 2014 predictably has slowed as much of the refinance activity has curtailed, the options provided by the HUD Lean program continue to be very beneficial to our clients,” Kass Matt, president of Lancaster Pollard, said in a statement. Seniors housing owners like the program because of its interest rates, long terms and nonrecourse feature, according to the company.
Over the past six fiscal years, Lancaster Pollard has generated the largest volume of HUD Lean activity, with 461 loans totaling $3.4 billion. In 2015, the loans closed by the firm were more than double that of the next closest lender on the list, in both number of loans closed and total loan amount.
“With interest rates remaining below long-term historical averages throughout 2015, we were able to close 55 refinancings utilizing the FHA Sec. 232/223(f) and 223(a)(7) programs,” Matt said. An additional 10 loans were closed through the FHA Sec. 232 and 241(a) programs, which provided funds for new construction, expansion and renovations, he added.
