Mortgage lenders lost an average of $301 per loan in 2022, down from an average profit of $2,339 per loan the year before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). 

It’s the first time lenders lost money on mortgages since MBA began tracking the numbers in 2008. 

“The rapid rise in mortgage rates over a relatively short period of time, combined with extremely low housing inventory and affordability challenges, meant that both purchase and refinance volume plummeted,” Marina Walsh, MBA’s vice president of industry analysis, said in a statement.  

“The stellar profits of the previous two years dissipated because of the confluence of declining volume, lower revenues, and higher costs per loan.”

Around one-third of mortgage companies were profitable last year, down from 98 percent two years prior, according to the MBA. Lenders signed off on $2.6 billion in loans on average in 2022, down from $4.9 billion the year prior. 

The findings underscore how the unaffordable housing market and sky-high interest rates are preventing prospective homebuyers from taking on a mortgage. 

As housing supply remains low and new listings are well below pre-pandemic levels, some experts believe prices will continue to rise.