United Wholesale Mortgage had its best quarter since the pandemic in Q3 as investments in AI and other technology helped the Pontiac, Michigan-based wholesaler make the most of the dramatic decline in mortgage rates in September.
All told, UWM originated $41.7 billion in mortgages in Q3 2025 — its best quarter since Q4 2021, when mortgage rates were at historic lows and UWM did $55.2 billion in business.
The context: UWM also had a great Q3 last fall, doubling refinancing volume to $13.3 billion when rates hit a 2024 low in September. But CEO Mat Ishbia said the company’s investments in technology — and AI in particular — put the lender in an even better position to capitalize on this year’s drop in rates.
“While most other lenders scale back, we invested in our people, our technology and the broker channel, which are all operating at all-time high levels,” Ishbia said Thursday on a call with investment analysts. “We’ve been prepared for a rate rally for years, and the third quarter gave us a little bit of a glimpse of what it would look like.”
UWM grows Q3 refinancing by 24% from a year ago
UWM mortgage originations by quarter. Source: UWM earnings reports.
With homebuyers in many markets still coping with affordability issues, UWM did 4 percent less purchase loans business ($25.2 billion) in Q3 2025 than it did in the same quarter of 2024 ($26.2 billion).
But refinancing volume was up 24 percent from a year ago, to $16.5 billion.
One factor driving the increase was “Mia,” a generative AI loan officer assistant that UWM rolled out in May. Mia can not only answer inbound calls but also make outbound calls — asking and answering questions, taking messages and scheduling appointments.
Mia has made more than 400,000 calls on behalf of mortgage brokers who send business to UWM — often to alert past clients of opportunities to refinance their existing mortgage at lower rates, Ishbia said.
Mat Ishbia
While 97 percent of borrowers “love their past experience with their broker and want to work with them in the future, only 10 percent remember who the broker is,” when they’re ready to take out another loan, Ishbia said.
“Mia is built to solve that issue, and she’s doing it,” Ishbia said.
“Mia has been phenomenal,” with more than 14,000 “rate watch” calls already converting to closed refinancings, he said. “We forecast a 10 percent to 15 percent answer rate, and we have actually seen over 40 percent.”
Ishbia said AI is helping UWM solve three issues: providing information to customers through chat, increasing efficiency and helping the company grow.
“The hardest one to solve is growth, which Mia is doing by solving these brokers’ missing business from their past clients,” Ishbia said.
By the numbers
- UWM reported Q3 revenue was up 13 percent from a year ago, to $843.3 million.
- At $12.1 million, net income (profit) was down 62 percent from a year ago.
- UWM’s mortgage servicing rights (MSR) portfolio totaled $216 billion as of Sept. 30, down 2 percent from a year ago.
Zoom out: Net income isn’t always the best indicator of how profitable a mortgage lender is that services its own mortgages. The decline in mortgage rates during the quarter required UWM to write down the fair value of its MSR portfolio by $308 million — paper losses that can turn into paper gains when mortgage rates go up.
“Anyone that … focuses on the MSRs and the fair value just doesn’t understand mortgages, doesn’t understand this business,” Ishbia said. “It’s got zero to do with what I’m doing.”
- Another measure of UWM’s profitability — adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) — was up 97 percent from a year ago in Q3, to $211 million.
Can UWM stay No. 1?
UWM overtook rival Rocket Mortgage as the biggest U.S. mortgage lender during the refinancing boom of 2022. While UWM’s $41.7 billion in Q3 loan production lets it keep that title — Rocket originated $32.4 billion in loans during the same period — Q4 could be another story.
In guidance to investors, UWM executives say they expect Q4 loan production to be in the $43 billion to $50 billion range.
Rocket’s acquisition of real estate brokerage Redfin, which closed on July 1, helped the company grow Q3 loan production by 14 percent, with Rocket offering preferred pricing to homebuyers represented by Redfin agents.
The Detroit-based lender’s Q4 loan production is expected to get an even bigger boost with the Oct. 1 closing of Rocket’s acquisition of loan servicing giant Mr. Cooper.
- Rocket and Mr. Cooper’s combined $2.1 trillion loan servicing portfolio of 10 million clients will help Rocket do more refis — Mr. Cooper funded $9.4 billion in mortgages in Q2 2025.
- A back-of-the-envelope calculation adding Mr. Cooper’s $9.4 billion in Q2 originations to Rocket’s $32.4 billion in Q3 loan production suggests that together, the two companies can do something in the neighborhood of $42 billion in Q4 business — about what UWM did in Q3.
What’s at stake: Rocket’s goal is to double its share of the purchase mortgage market to 8 percent by 2027 and boost its share of the refinancing business from 12 percent to 20 percent. UWM CEO Mat Ishbia is a fierce competitor who won’t want to cede market share to Rocket. For real estate and their clients, competition could mean better deals — for those who are willing to shop around.
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