Hey there,

Welcome to all the new subscribers who've joined our mortgage tech newsletter over the past few weeks!

It's been a while since you last heard from me. I've taken a step back from our regular publishing schedule to focus on creating more in-depth content. And I'm thrilled to announce that it's now live! 🎉

The first resource is the Mortgage Origination Metrics Library.

Unfortunately, the library is too extensive to share directly in this email—email clients are likely to cut it off.

So here’s a link to the web version of Mortgage Origination Metrics Library.

And bellow is a quick overview of what you'll find in the library.

Enjoy exploring!

P.S. Moving forward, you'll hear from me less frequently, about 1-3 times per month. This is because I'm shifting my focus towards longer-form posts to provide a more comprehensive overview of tech topics.

Mortgage Origination Metrics Library

Operational efficiency in mortgage origination is critical for lenders to stay profitable during market downturns.

However, driving operational improvements is hard without a way to objectively measure the volume, quality, and efficiency of mortgage origination operations.

At the end of the day, how can you know if you’re moving in the right direction without a baseline to compare against?

To provide mortgage operations leaders with the answer, I set out to compile the most in-depth, publicly available mortgage origination metrics library.

This library includes over 100 metrics that quantify the performance of 6 mortgage origination functions, giving operations leaders the data they need to drive operational improvements.

I tried to measure mortgage origination operations from every possible angle, but if I missed something, please drop us a line, and I’ll update the post.

Special thanks to the wonderful Jodie Bayardo from AMEX Mortgage for inspiring the creation of this library.

Mortgage Origination Metrics Library Structure

Below is an overview of what’s inside the library and how it is structured, including:

• Which operations are measured in the library

• What types of metrics does the library cover

• What does each metric type consist of

Initially, I planned to include the framework behind the operational metrics as an introduction to the library. However, it ended up being an over 10k-word endeavor, so I separated it into its own post.

An in-depth guide about the framework behind this operational metrics collection is coming soon.

Operations covered

This library covers metrics measuring the Mortgage Loan Origination operation and its five nested operations:

1. Mortgage Loan Origination

2. Mortgage Loan Sales

3. Mortgage Loan Processing

4. Mortgage Loan Underwriting

5. Mortgage Loan Closing

6. Mortgage Loan Post-Closing

Metrics at the top level of the Mortgage Loan Origination operation offer a higher-level view of the origination process’s performance.

Meanwhile, metrics for the nested operations provide insight into the performance of each step in the mortgage loan origination chain.

Mortgage companies vary in structure and models, so some may not have all these operations. Use the metrics that apply to your organization and disregard the rest.

Operational metrics types covered

Metrics in each operation are divided into 4 groups based on the aspect of operation they measure:

1. 📊 Operation Volume Metrics → Measure the quantity and volume of work products produced.

2. 📋 Operation Output Quality Metrics → Measures the quality of the operation’s work products.

3. 🔄 Operation Function Efficiency Metrics → Measures how efficiently the operation transforms input into work products.

4. 🪙 Operational Output Financial Metrics → Measures financial aspects of producing a unit of work product like cost, revenue, and profit.

Operational metrics components covered

Each metric consists of a Measure and a Dimension.

• Measure quantifies the data.

• Dimension breaks down the Measure to provide additional context.

For example, the metric $ Total Production Volume (per Loan Officer) consists of:

• Measure: $ Total Production Volume

• Dimension: (per Loan Officer)

By combining different measures and dimensions, you can derive metrics representing various operational performance aspects.

If we consider all possible combinations of measures and dimensions, there are way more than 100 mortgage origination metrics.

To keep the library digestible, each metric type covers the top 5 most impactful metrics and the Measures and Dimensions used to derive them.

You can use the same Measure x Dimension framework to derive new metrics not covered in the library.

How to Use Metrics From The Library

The library covers more than 100 mortgage origination metrics.

And it’s probably not the best idea to measure all of them.

Measuring everything will give more noise rather than actionable insights.

My approach to make the most out of the metrics measure is to:

Measure what you want to improve

The idea is to identify what operation and aspect of operation you want to improve and focus on measuring only these metrics. Once objectives change, so do the metrics you focus on.

Depending on the size of the mortgage company, several operations leaders are responsible for improving the operations they oversee.

In this case, each operation leader would focus on a set of metrics relevant to their operation, while executive leadership would use higher-level metrics that encompass the performance of all nested operations.