Residential originations fell in 2011, and some lenders saw a bigger decline than others, according to MortgageDaily.com’s 2011 Mortgage Lender Ranking. The government’s role in residential finance was reduced last year.

Fourth-quarter originations by all lenders were an estimated $381 billion, up from approximately $317 billion closed three months earlier.

The biggest fourth-quarter lender was Wells Fargo, which reported that volume climbed to $120 billion from the third quarter’s $89 billion. No. 3 Bank of America saw production fall more than any other top-10 lender as it quit correspondent lending. U.S. Bancorp gave the best performance, where production climbed 51 percent.

Top 4Q originators

1. Wells Fargo
2. Chase
3. Bank of America
4. Citi
5. U.S. Bancorp

Industry-wide production during all of 2011 was around $1.3 trillion, falling from approximately $1.6 trillion the previous year.

There were $206 billion in loans insured by FHA last year, giving FHA a market share around 16 percent, down from 19 percent in 2010. Loans purchased or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac accounted for approximately 74 percent of 2011 business – lower than the 78 percent share a year earlier.

The government owns FHA and controls Fannie and Freddie, putting the country on the hook for around 90 percent of mortgages originated last year. But that was lower than the approximately 97 percent government market share in 2010.

Wells Fargo dominated annual rankings despite an 8 percent decline. Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo were responsible for about half of all production during 2011.

PHH saw annual production rise 6 percent, the best annual performance of any top-ranking lender.

Top 2011 lenders

1. Wells Fargo
2. Bank of America
3. Chase
4. Citigroup
5. Ally
6. PHH
7. U.S. Bancorp
8. Quicken
9. Flagstar
10. BB&T

Based on mortgage servicing portfolios, including third-party servicing, mortgages owned and home-equity assets, Wells Fargo’s $1.822 trillion portfolio was the biggest.

Top 2011 servicers

1. Wells Fargo
2. Bank of America
3. Chase
4. Citigroup
5. Ally
6. U.S. Bancorp
7. PNC
8. PHH
9. SunTrust
10. OneWest

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