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The state’s loan originators had to deal with high interest rates and low inventory as they tried to get their customers into homes but were still able to succeed in 2024.
Across Connecticut, US Bank loan originators led the way with Jarret J. Coleman and Joseph Antonios taking the top two spots in terms of volume and total number of loans according to The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record.
Larry Fiore, a regional sales manager of retail home lending at U.S. Bank credited the bank’s ability to retain talented loan officers with the success the institution has seen in the region.
“What we have in Connecticut is we have a really good team of loan officers,” he said. “We really do invest in our individual loan officers, and we’ve got a lot of longevity with our team. With our team, we have a group of loan officers that have been here as long as seven years. That’s as long as we’ve been on the East Coast. So I think through having a very seasoned team that really understands what we bring to the community, the products that we offer, really understanding our offering to the community has really been successful.”
Additionally Fiore, who oversees the CT region said that making the mortgage process seamless has helped US Bank top the loan origination charts in 2024.
“I think the other thing that’s really led us to success in the marketplace is really the way we service our clients and our borrowers,” he said. “We really do pride ourselves on the mortgage process being pretty seamless. We do want push very hard for a very common sense underwrite. We really push hard to make sure that our support groups are all aligned.”
Who Are Connecticut’ Top Loan Originators?
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Among locally based lenders, Middletown-headquartered Liberty Bank also saw success last year. The bank had two loan originators – Andrew Arnold and Anna Podkowiak – among the top 10 by loan volume while the bank’s LOs made up half of the top 10 bank-affiliated LOs when ranked by number of loans.
“We have some of the best and brightest loan officers,” said Matthew Cammarota, head of retail lending at Liberty Bank. “A lot officers that know their community. They’re embedded in their community, and they’re super involved in their communities, but they’re all from different communities. Geographically, but also different backgrounds, different generations, etc.”
The year wasn’t without its challenges. Low inventory continued to persist in the Nutmeg State and the competition for customers was fierce.
Cammarota said that Connecticut had 3,825 homes actively listed for sale by the end of April 2024. In July of 2016, 24,227 homes were actively listed for sale
Lenders also had to deal with continued elevated mortgage interest rates with some slight relief towards the end of the year. Cammarota said that while interest rates in the upper 6 percent to low 7 percent range might be good historically, their persistence is only strengthening Connecticut’s inventory issues.
“Obviously, consumers got somewhat spoiled with 3, 4 and 5 percent mortgage rates,” Cammarota said. “The interest rates, how they present a challenge is, I think 80 percent of our current homeowners have an interest rate 5 percent or below, and they’re just not willing to trade that in for a new house that comes with a 6.5 or 7 percent interest rate. So yes, they’re historically competitive, but they’re also off significantly from where they were in the last three to five years. The biggest thing, I think, is it just really kind of exacerbates the inventory issue.”
Tough Times Spur Innovation
Sometimes difficult financial conditions have the potential for innovation in the industry. Fiore noted that US Bank has a wide variety of products they offer including a flagship first-time homebuyer program that is proprietary to US Bank which offers up to a $10,000 in down payment assistance.
“Then we have a variety of other proprietary portfolio products that help clients get into a piece of collateral that Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac or FHA would say, ‘hey, it doesn’t fit our box,’” he said. “If we can fit them into potentially our portfolio box, again, we do have some additional guidelines that give a little bit more flexibility to the consumer. So really trying to approach it from multiple different ways is one making sure we have products that are out there that fit the needs of client, and then make sure that before they even look for a home, we can really put them in the best position possible.”
This year didn’t get off to the best start as economic volatility was rife and still remains moving forward due to trade wars.
While challenges will remain for the spring and fall markets, Fiore said he believes buyers will still be active regardless of the economic conditions.
“We really do think that buyers buy at home when it’s right for them based on whether there’s a change in family status, whether they’re looking to upsize, downsize, maybe have a child or children move out,” he said. “We tend to see, especially in places like Connecticut, that the external factors, while they may impact it, it really becomes a personal decision as when’s the right time to buy a home, when’s the right time to sell a home. So we’re seeing pretty robust activity in the state still, and I think that’s been a really good thing.”
