Credit Unions Gaining Mortgage Market Share

Credit unions are gaining a greater share of the market for both home mortgages and auto loans according to a new study just released by TransUnion.  The credit reporting company says credit unions' share of mortgage originations has risen from 7 percent in the first quarter of 2015 to 11 percent in the first quarter of this year. 

During a survey of 90 credit union executives 60 percent stated that the number of mortgage originations they have provided to their members has grown over that two year period and ranked mortgages as a prime focus and growth areas for their businesses.

Further, TransUnion found that credit unions had suffered less and staged a quicker recovery from the severe downturn in mortgage originations between 2012 and last year. While credit unions saw a drop of 24 percent in their originations during that period, the rest of the market fell by 48 percent.  Over the last year credit union originations have increased 35 percent while the rest of the market is up 15 percent.

Nidhi Verma, director of research and consulting in TransUnion's financial services business unit said, "In the last year alone, it appears significantly more credit union executives are seeing growth in this area. Credit unions are becoming bigger players in the mortgage loan market, something that may serve them well in the future as the housing market continues to recover."

TransUnion also found that credit unions experienced 25 percent growth in non-prime mortgage originations in Q1 2015 while the rest of the industry grew at only 4 percent.

"As the U.S. economy continues to recover, non-prime mortgage originations are growing for both credit unions and the rest of the industry," said Verma. "Historically, credit unions have seen lower delinquency rates than the rest of the industry, and their focus on membership expansion makes them well-positioned to take advantage of this growth."

Auto loans have also grown in importance at credit unions.  From Q1 2014 to Q1 2015 they had a 7.4 percent increase in new auto loans while the rest of the industry saw a 2.1 percent bump.  Subprime constituted 12.5 percent of their new loan originations in Q1 2015 slightly lower than a year earlier.