Quicken Loans' parent Rocket Companies reported Thursday that it did a record amount of mortgage business in 2020 and likely had the most profitable year ever for the 36-year-old mortgage lender.
Boosted by the boom in mortgage refinancing activity, the Detroit-based company had $15.7 billion in total revenue, or more than triple its $5.1 billion revenue in 2019.
Its net income, or profit, skyrocketed to $9.4 billion from just under $1 billion the year before. And the company increased its closely watched gain on sale margin by 127 basis points year-over-year to 4.46%.
In just the fourth quarter, total revenue jumped to $4.7 billion from $1.9 billion during the same quarter in 2019 as net income grew to $2.8 billion from $0.8 billion.
Rocket Companies, which went public in August, also announced Thursday a new special and non-recurring dividend of $1.11 per share, payable March 23 for stockholders as of March 9.
"During the year, we achieved significant growth and generated capital at a rate where we were able to fully reinvest in our business and have excess funds available to distribute to our shareholders," the company said in a news release. "We will fund the special dividend from cash distributions of approximately $2.2 billion."
Rocket Companies executives were scheduled to give an earnings call at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
Overall, the mortgage company did a record $320.2 billion in total mortgage originations, up 121% from a 2019.
"Rocket Companies' record-breaking fourth quarter and full year 2020 results demonstrate the sheer power of the technology platform we have built and refined for more than two decades," CEO Jay Farner said in a news release. "In the midst of a pandemic, we successfully drove growth in every segment of our business, while never losing focus on meeting the needs of our team members, clients and communities."
There are multiple separate companies under the Rocket Companies umbrella, most notably Quicken Loans, the nation's No. 1 ranked mortgage lender. The others include title company Amrock, home search platform Rocket Homes, personal loans provider Rocket Loans and call center Rock Connections.
Big earnings too at UWM
Another nationally ranked lender in southeast Michigan, Pontiac-based United Wholesale Mortgage, recently reported its own mortgage origination record for 2020 during its first earnings call since going public in January.
UWM did $182.5 billion in mortgages for the year, which was nearly 70% higher than its prior record set in 2019. The company, run by CEO Mat Ishbia, also reported $1.37 billion in net income for the fourth quarter, compared to $149 million for the same quarter in 2019.
