With listings scarce and refinancings sluggish, the strategy of partnering with homebuilders to form joint ventures like Onx X+ Mortgage is to grow loanDepot’s purchase loan business.
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Joint mortgage ventures with homebuilders have helped loanDepot weather the shortage of for-sale listings in many markets, and the company has high hopes for its latest partnership with factory homebuilder Onx Homes — a startup that claims it can build sustainable homes in 30 days.
With elevated mortgage rates keeping a lid on refinancing, the new joint venture announced by loanDepot Wednesday, Onx X+ Mortgage, is also aimed at expanding the lender’s footprint in the purchase mortgage market.
Founded in 2021, Onx Homes has corporate and manufacturing facilities in Florida and Texas and claims to have more than 4,000 homes under development in those states.
Dan Peña
“We’re so impressed by the approach and speed with which Onx creates not just new homes, but entire communities,” loanDepot executive Dan Peña said in a statement. “It’s an innovative solution for today’s housing shortage, especially for serving the critical first-time homebuyer segment that loanDepot is dedicated to supporting.”
LoanDepot in November announced a joint venture with Woodstock, Georgia-based Smith Douglas Homes, which targets price-conscious entry-level and empty-nest homebuyers in the Southeast and Southern U.S.
Mortgage industry veteran Teresa Carlile was named president of the joint venture with Smith Douglas Homes, Ridgeland Mortgage, in January.
Teresa Carlile
With more than 25 years of leadership experience in the mortgage industry, Carlile has ties to Atlanta, “a key growth market for Ridgeland,” and extensive experience working with national builders, loanDepot and Smith Douglas Homes said in announcing her hire.
LoanDepot’s other joint ventures include:
In its most recent quarterly report to investors, loanDepot said it boosted third quarter 2024 loan originations by 9 percent from a year ago, to $6.66 billion, helping the company book its first profitable quarter since Q4 2021.
LoanDepot President and CEO Frank Martell — the former CoreLogic executive who succeeded founder Anthony Hsieh as CEO in 2022 — credited the company’s Vision 2025 strategic plan with helping turn the company around.
More recently, on Jan. 31, loanDepot announced it had secured a $400 million revolving line of credit secured by its mortgage servicing rights and other collateral with Atlas Securitized Products Funding 1 LP.
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