“Before it was us educating brokers on non-QM, explaining the benefits and why they should do it. Now it’s implementation discussions – that has just become the norm and it’s pretty exciting,” he added.
Angel Oak reached a milestone last month when it passed $10 billion in total non-QM volume, the company adding that it expected 2022 to be an even better year.
More recently, the company launched an aggressive advertising campaign to promote non-QM, focusing on such hotspots as California, Florida, Texas and Georgia.
Industry wide, non-QM lending reached a record $22 billion in 2019, before the COVID outbreak put a temporary break on growth. By the end of 2020, volume almost topped $16.9 billion – 20% below the previous year, with many lenders halting origination activity due to pandemic-led liquidity issues. Despite this, the result had been better than expected.
In any case, non-QM lending has been increasing its share of the mortgage market, particularly from 2018 onwards.