Methodology & sources

How we build it

Universe

We count originated loans (action taken = originated) for home purchase, refinance, and cash-out refinance on investor-occupied (occupancy = investment property), single-family 1-4 unit, site-built properties. Second homes and owner-occupied loans are excluded.

Grouping by lender

Each HMDA record carries the reporting institution's LEI (Legal Entity Identifier). We group originations by LEI within each state, and nationally, counting loans and summing reported loan amounts.

Naming

The Modified LAR carries only LEIs, not names. We resolve the top lenders' LEIs to institution names via the HMDA filers registry; because LEIs are stable across years, the prior-year registry covers nearly all current filers. Any remaining LEIs are resolved through the public GLEIF registry. For this edition, 231 of 232 listed lenders resolved via HMDA and 1 via GLEIF, with 0 unresolved.

Focus label

We flag each lender's mix using HMDA's business-or-commercial-purpose field. Where most of a lender's investor originations are business-purpose (the bucket that includes DSCR and LLC-held loans) we label it "DSCR / business-purpose"; where most are not, "Conventional"; otherwise "Mixed."

Listing thresholds

We list the top 10 lenders per state (and the top 30 nationally), and ignore any lender below 10 investor originations in a state to avoid tiny-sample noise.

What this data does not capture

No single dataset captures the whole lending market. These limits matter when reading the rankings — we state them plainly so the report can be cited with confidence.

Not a "best" ranking

This ranks reported origination volume only. It says nothing about a lender's rates, fees, service, speed, or whether it will lend on your specific deal. It is a starting list to research, not a recommendation.

HMDA omits many private/hard-money lenders

HMDA reporting is required of institutions above loan-count and asset thresholds. Many small private and hard-money lenders fall below those thresholds and never appear — so the truly local hard-money market is undercounted. (Large business-purpose lenders like Kiavi and Lima One do report and do appear.)

Business-purpose loans are partly optional

Reporting some business-purpose loans is optional under HMDA, so the DSCR/business-purpose counts are a floor, not a complete census.

Legal entity names, not brands

Names come from the LEI registry as registered legal entities (e.g. "United Shore Financial Services, LLC" rather than its "UWM" brand), and parent/DBA relationships are not resolved.

Early-release vintage

The Modified LAR is the early-release dataset the CFPB publishes months before the finalized Snapshot; figures may shift slightly when the Snapshot publishes.