Home Trust bullish on brokers' future

The CEO of Home Capital Group is forecasting a positive year ahead for both the lender and the broker channel following the release of the company’s fourth quarter results.

The CEO of Home Capital Group is forecasting a positive year ahead for both the lender and the broker channel following the release of the company’s fourth quarter results.

“We would like to convey a big ‘thank you’ to our brokers because they delivered the vast majority of all our mortgage products … 95 per cent comes from the broker network,” Gerald Soloway, chief executive officer of Home Capital told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “One interesting number we published was that the total mortgage originations last year for us was $6.92 billion for the year; up about 15 per cent from the prior year.”

The company reported an income increase of almost 16 per cent, a 14 per cent increase in dividend per share and a 23 per cent -- year over year -- dividend increase.

“As a result of that … the market was very enthusiastic,” Soloway said. “The stock is up about 9 per cent (following) this news.”

And he expects profitability to carry forward in 2014, predicting a positive year for both the lender and its lender partners.

“We think housing prices will be relatively stable to modestly higher, we see it as a good year for mortgage brokers, that volume will continue at a pretty high rate and we look forward for a good year for us and a good year for mortgage brokers,” Soloway said.