Almost halfway through 2026 and time to take a look at what lenders are growing their purchase market share the most nationally.

Been such a weird year. Such a 'hurry up and wait' market right now, with so many buyers sitting on the fence that the fence has filed for structural reinforcement.

Rates that won't break, buyers who won't budge, and sellers who refuse to believe it isn't 2021 anymore. And yet lenders are still winning.

So I pulled the iEmergent data to see exactly who. I looked at YTD 2026 purchase market share vs. 2025 purchase market share.

Big IMB (> $3B YTD 2026)

The biggest IMBs are consolidating share very aggressively.

CrossCountry Mortgage, +32.1 bps (3.02% to 3.34%)
Rocket Mortgage, +29.0 bps (3.99% to 4.28%)
The Loan Store, +23.6 bps (0.62% to 0.86%)
Mortgage Research Center (Veterans United), +23.6 bps (1.60% to 1.83%)
Guaranteed Rate (Rate), +19.1 bps (1.80% to 1.99%)
Guild Mortgage, +13.4 bps (1.65% to 1.79%)
PennyMac, +10.9 bps (1.01% to 1.12%)
CMG Mortgage, +10.5 bps (1.62% to 1.73%)
New American Funding, +5.9 bps (0.88% to 0.94%)
loanDepot, -2.2 bps (the only big IMB that lost share)

Small/Med IMB (< $3B YTD 2026)

The challengers. A mix of tech-forward names and aggressive growers.

Zillow Home Loans, +20.8 bps (0.35% to 0.56%)
Barrett Financial Group, +15.5 bps
Kind Lending, +12.8 bps (Glenn Stearns' shop, real momentum)
OriginPoint, +12.2 bps
Cornerstone First Mortgage, +11.4 bps
Tomo Mortgage, +10.5 bps (nearly doubled its share off a small base)
Union Home Mortgage, +8.1 bps
A&D Mortgage, +8.0 bps
American Pacific Mortgage, +6.9 bps
American Financial Resources, +6.7 bps

Big Bank/CU (≥ $3B YTD 2026)

Only five banks/CUs cleared the $3B big-tier bar, so this is the full field, not a top 10. Telling in itself, how few big depositories still do this volume.

Wells Fargo, +16.2 bps (1.60% to 1.76%, notable given their retreat narrative)
Navy Federal Credit Union, +14.7 bps (0.89% to 1.03%, the CU standout)
JPMorgan Chase, +6.9 bps
U.S. Bank, +3.2 bps
Bank of America, -3.6 bps (the only one losing share)

Small/Med Bank/CU (< $3B YTD 2026)

With Basel reforms coming, a lot of home building needed in America ... a lot of oppo on in this category ...

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I have been doing this a long time, and I still do not have the words for the last few days. The 2026 OMBA Annual Conference was something special, and I am sitting here overwhelmed by gratitude for what this community built together.

We were blessed to have so many of the most respected leaders in our industry make time to be in that room. The keynotes were extraordinary, from Maurice Clarett to Robert Broeksmit, Jodi Hall, Julie May, Steve Richman, Melanie Coulton, CMB®, AMP, Bill Cosgrove, Michael Hammond JD, CMT ☘️, and Ohio State Senator Bill Blessing. Twenty breakout sessions, every one of them sharp, practical, and worth the seat.

We launched a new tradition we could not be prouder of, Ohio's Own, honoring 12 trailblazing women who have shaped lending in this state. We graduated 41 future leaders. We passed the gavel from Adam Rose to Dawn Carpenter and installed a new board to carry OMBA forward.

And none of it happens without the people who carried it behind the scenes. Heidi G. Belnay, Will Gatchel, Abigail Villegas, and Amanda Holcomb, you are the reason this came together and you made everyone feel like familia this week. I am so damn grateful for you guys!

To every speaker, sponsor, board member, volunteer, and attendee who showed up and poured into this event, thank you. This is what our industry looks like at its best.

And we're just getting started Ohio ... 🚀 🌕

If you're playing the long game, here's how it can actually look.

In my 20s, it was all work ethic & learning. I had no college degree, so my entire strategy was simple: outwork everyone in the room so obviously that nobody could ignore me. I started in cap markets & literally treated every single day like a class I was lucky to be sitting in. Absorb, contribute, figure it out in real time, repeat. I got on LinkedIn early, before most of the industry, and quietly used it to study how this crazy ass industry actually worked.

In my 30s, I realized there was a real path to climb in banking. I moved from capi markets to sales to running residential lending. Leadership became the focus, and so did self-awareness, which is a humbling thing to work on when you think you've already got it figured out. Emotional intelligence curriculum & the Ohio Bankers League's leadership institute were, in hindsight, the things that quietly unlocked the next level for me. I leaned into networking, not as a tactic, but as a system for growth. And I doubled down on LinkedIn, this time figuring out how to actually use it to grow companies instead of just study them.

At 38, after 20 years building inside banks, I was ready for a different kind of challenge. I joined a startup called The Mortgage Collaborative and quintupled down on LinkedIn. The first few years were hard in the way startups are always hard. But consistency and clarity have a funny way of compounding, and they paid off.

By 46, TMC was scaled and thriving. And right on cue, I started to feel the pull. I'd spent my entire career building businesses for other people. I wanted to find out what it felt like to build one for myself.

I'd been running a sports card business on the side, and I'd done enough side consulting to know I had real value to bring & real ideas on how to bring it. So I set myself one simple marker: 25K LinkedIn followers. Once I hit it, I'd go out on my own. No elaborate plan, just a line in the sand. About a year later, I hit the number. And then I actually did the terrifying part and jumped. $0 salary.

I'm now 49 & 3 years into building & growing a bunch of different things I love - my roster of coaching & consulting clients, The Mortgage Collaborative, the OMBA, The Cardboard Jungle & my email newsletter.

I'm where I hoped I'd be 3 years in but the journey was rocky. I have worked 60-80 hours/week pretty much every week for 3 years. I ate shit and FOMO'd all over LinkedIn watching everyone travel for 2 years while I stayed home & saved and slaved.

The mental timeline ...

6 months in - "Uhhh"
12 months in - "I thought I'd have double the clients I do"
18 months in - "OK, now we're getting somewhere"
24 months in - "Thank God I trusted the process and stayed patient."
36 months in (Saving Private Ryan Omaha Beach scene) ...

Tom Hanks: "Sergeant Horvath! Do you recognize where we are?"
Tom Sizemore: "Right where we're supposed to be!"

The beach is taken. Now we move inland.

10 days down. 28 to go. And what a start to the World Cup! The record: 13-10. Up $322. Here's the next two days. Buckle up...

MONDAY

Austria +1.5 and UNDER 3.5 (bet 140 to win 100). I am fading Messi. Yes, that Messi. Pray for me.

France -2.5 (135 to win 100). I am riding the Frenchies like a carnival pony.

Norway/Senegal both teams to score and OVER 2.5 (100 to win 108). Loads of firepower, defense optional. Also, Haaland.

Algeria to win and UNDER 4.5 (125 to win 100). My pre-tournament sleeper to sneak through. The nap is over, big fella. Go win.

TUESDAY

Portugal -1.5 and OVER 2.5 (100 to win 115). My official theory: Ronaldo gets injured by one of his own teammates in the warmups and the rest of the Portuguese run absolutely wild. Don't overthink it.

England -1.5 (150 to win 100). The English are on a mission. France-England final is where my heads at right now.

Panama +0.5 (100 to win 155). Kill the Croats. Die, Croats! I have nothing personal against Croatia. They will not die in the bracket so they must be killed off in pool play.

Colombia -0.5 and UNDER 3.5 (110 to win 100). I love this team. They outplayed Brazil in game one and they win this one comfortably. Going to be an incredibly tough out.

The tech stack decision you make in '26-'27 is the competitive position you live with in 2031. That sounds dramatic. It is not.

The mortgage business is in the middle of a once-in-a-generation infrastructure shift, and most lenders are sleepwalking through the most important decision they will make this decade.

Here's the trap ... legacy vendor adds an AI chatbot, slaps "AI-powered" on the sales deck, and a lender signs a multi-year contract feeling like they future-proofed the business. They did the opposite. They just locked themselves into a platform built on twenty-year-old architecture, with intelligence bolted on the side like a spoiler on a minivan.

There is a real difference between software that has AI features and software built on AI.

The first is a legacy platform with AI added to it. The AI can only do as much as the old system underneath it allows. The second is built around AI from the start, so it gets smarter every time the underlying models do. You are not buying a tool. You are buying a platform that compounds.

Your competitors who choose AI-native infrastructure will widen the gap a little every quarter. Not in one dramatic leap. In a thousand small ways. Faster files. Smarter routing. Less manual work. Better borrower experience. It adds up, and by 2031 it is not a gap, it is a canyon.

So the question is not "does this vendor have AI." Every vendor will say yes. The question is "was this built on AI, or was AI sprinkled on after the fact." Those two things age in completely opposite directions.

The good news is a handful of platforms are finally being built the right way, from day one rather than retrofitted. I have been watching what platforms like Vesta are doing with keen interest.

If you are making a stack decision this year, slow down and ask the harder question. The next five years of your business depend on the answer.

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Jun 22 - NBA Draft

Jun 29 - Wimbledon begins

July - Coming next edition!

Until the next one,
Swerb
[email protected]