Arvest Tops $1B Mortgage Mark

Despite a slowdown from its 2005 mortgage lending numbers, Fayetteville-chartered Arvest Bank once again held the top spot on the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s list of largest mortgage lenders. It was the fifth year in a row the bank topped the $1 billion lending mark.

Arvest closed on 8,461 loans in the two-county market in 2006, down 25.6 percent from the 11,376 loans that were closed by the bank in 2005. The total value of loans closed in 2006 was $1.5 billion, down 16 percent from 2005.

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage overtook Bentonville-chartered ANB Financial NA for the No. 2 slot, closing 1,301 market loans in 2006. ANB slipped two slots to No. 4 on the list with 1,222 loans closed in 2006, a 42.9 percent decrease from 2005.

Little Rock-based Metropolitan National Bank recorded the largest increase in number of loans closed in 2006 compared to 2005.

MNB completed 273 loans last year, a 210.2 percent increase from the 88 completed loans in 2005.

Bank of America recorded the list’s largest decrease in loans closed in 2006 compared to 2005. The Charlotte, N.C. chartered bank closed 665 loans in 2006, a 53.4 percent decrease from 2005. But the slip didn’t knock BOA out of the top 10.