Guides
5 minutes

How to Analyze Mortgage Market Share and Use It to Drive Growth

August 18, 2025
Market share and polygon research logo.
Author:
Val Buresch, Founder & CEO, Polygon Research

Let’s stop treating market share like an annual checkbox.

It’s not a slide for your board deck or a stat for social media. Market share is a lens into how your business is competing, where you’re strong, where you’re exposed, and where the opportunities live.

Mortgage lending is local, fast-moving, and competitive. Market share shows you how the ground is shifting beneath your feet. If you’re not watching it, someone else is, and they’re taking your volume.

What Market Share Actually Measures (And Why It’s Strategic)

At its core, market share is your percentage of all loans closed in a specific market over a specific time period.

You can measure it by:

  • Units - number of loans originated. It is best for tracking transaction activity.
  • Volume - total loan volume. Essential for understanding your impact on revenue, especially in high-balance or jumbo segments.

Both are important. Units show reach, scale and give an insight into how many borrowers you've helped. Dollars show where you’re winning bigger loans or high-value clients. Smart lenders track both.

For example, you might hold a 3% unit share in a suburban zip code, but 5% dollar share, which points to a strategy - you’re winning on higher-priced homes or jumbo deals.

Why Market Share Tells You More Than Internal KPIs

Internal performance metrics like locked volume, funded loans, or LO pipeline are essential. But they only show what’s happening inside your business. They don’t tell you how you're doing relative to the market.

That’s where market share comes in. It adds context and clarity. It shows you how your loan production stacks up relative to all lenders in the markets you care about.

Let’s say you closed 1000 loans last year. Is that growth? Maybe. But if your local market expanded by 25% and your volume only grew 10%, you actually lost ground. You gained loans, but your market share shrank.

Or consider a new loan officer who brought in $5 million in purchase loans. Good result? Not if most of those loans came from ZIP codes where you already had strong performance. Without a market share lens, you can’t tell if you expanded your footprint, or just shifted business internally.

Or consider these scenarios:

  • Your FHA volume in a particular county might look solid, but market share reveals that your top competitor grew 40% year-over-year and passed you.
  • Your team might be consistent in a ZIP code with high loan amounts, but the market itself is expanding, and your share is shrinking even though your volume is flat.
  • You may be strong in conventional, but when you segment by product, geography, or borrower profile, your edge disappears in the exact places your strategy needs to win.

These are signals you won’t catch by looking at internal reports alone. Take a look at the table measuring the market share, the rank, and year-over-year growth of lenders in the 1-4 unit, home purchase segment, loan amount $750-$1 million.

Top Lenders by 2024 Market Share — Purchase, 1–4 Units, Loan Amount $750,000 to < $1,000,000
2024 Rank Lender Name Loan Count Market Share YoY
1 UNITED WHOLESALE MORTGAGE, LLC 10,860 8.65% 63.8%
2 ROCKET MORTGAGE, LLC 6,006 4.78% 80.1%
3 CROSSCOUNTRY MORTGAGE, LLC 3,693 2.94% 69.4%
4 U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 3,162 2.52% 1.5%
5 JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 3,134 2.50% 21.3%
6 GUARANTEED RATE, INC. 2,603 2.07% 59.8%
7 WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 2,414 1.92% -28.1%
8 CMG MORTGAGE, INC. 2,095 1.67% 161.9%
9 BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 1,990 1.59% -14.2%
10 CITIBANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 1,829 1.46% -22.5%
Source: Polygon Vision  |  Filters: Action Type: 2024 Originations • Loan Amount Range: $750,000 to < $1,000,000 • Units: 1–4 • Loan Purpose: Purchase

With Polygon Vision, you can slice the data by loan type, geography, channel, or borrower characteristics, so you can see exactly where you’re gaining ground, where you’re falling behind, and why.

Market share doesn’t replace internal metrics, it gives them meaning. It answers the critical external questions: Are we keeping up with the market? Are we beating competitors in the right places? Are we in position to grow?

The Catch: Most Market Share Data Is a Mess

If you’ve ever tried to calculate market share on your own, using raw HMDA data or vendor PDFs, you know the pain.

Lender names are inconsistent. “XYZ Mortgage,” “XYZ Mtg Inc.,” and “XYZ Mortgage Company” might all be the same lender. On the flip side, some lenders share the same common name (think People’s Bank) but are completely unrelated. Without clean, modeled data, you’re left guessing. And that defeats the point.

Then there’s the format. Too many market share tools serve up static, pre-summarized reports. You get a snapshot. No drill-down. No filters. No way to explore what matters to your business.

And here’s where it gets worse: you're often forced to work with someone else’s idea of what “your market” is.

Just last week, I spoke with an industry contact trying to analyze market share for his investment lending business. He was using another vendor’s HMDA platform, but his company wasn’t even listed there. The data was pre-aggregated, the lender names were a mess, and the platform had no way to segment by strategy or channel. It simply didn’t reflect how his business actually operates.

That’s the danger of flattened, generic market share reporting: it removes the nuance and precision you need to make smart decisions. You can’t define your markets. You can’t focus by product or borrower type. You can’t even validate your own presence.

If you can’t see yourself in the data, how can you trust it to guide your strategy?

Market share isn’t one number. This view shows how lender performance varies by channel and loan type in the same geography, only possible with Polygon Vision’s interactive filters.

Polygon Vision fixes this messy data situation. You define the market. You decide what matters, whether that’s geography, loan type, channel, borrower profile, or time frame. And you get a clear, accurate view of where and how you're competing.

Why Polygon Vision Exists

We built Polygon Vision to solve the practical problems of mortgage market share analysis—so you don’t waste time wrestling with data when you could be acting on insight.

What makes Polygon Vision different

1. Clean, Unified Lender Data

We model and link lender names using a proprietary system, so you get one clean view of every lender, every time.

No duplicates. No missing records. You’ll know exactly who’s winning and where.

2. You Define the Market

Filter by:

  • Geography: MSA, county, zip code, census tract
  • Channel: Broker vs. retail vs. correspondent
  • Loan type: Conventional, FHA, VA, jumbo
  • Loan purpose: Purchase, refi
  • Loan size, borrower race/ethnicity, occupancy, more

Define your competitive landscape the way your business operates—not the way someone else drew a boundary.

3. Interactive, Self-Serve Analysis

No more waiting for a PDF or calling a data vendor for updates.

With Polygon Vision, you can ask your own questions, drill down instantly, and track trends in real time. Need to check your FHA purchase share in Gwinnett County this year vs. last? You’ll have the answer in seconds.

4. Continuously Updated, Built on Deep HMDA Intelligence

We don’t rely solely on the annual HMDA release. Polygon Vision updates monthly, drawing from the CFPB’s weekly data corrections and revisions. That means you’re working with the most complete and up-to-date version of public loan-level data available—modeled, cleaned, and ready for strategic analysis.

5. Designed for Teams and Strategy

Whether you’re a branch manager, a head of production, or the CEO, Polygon Vision supports the questions you care about:

  • Where should we deploy new LOs?
  • Are we gaining ground in our strategic markets?
  • How are we performing in underserved areas?
  • Who are our real competitors, and what are they doing?

6. Simple, Transparent Pricing

We’re not a “call us for pricing” shop. Our tiers are clear.

Starter: 1 year of data - $130/month billed annually.

Pro: 2 years of data - $267/month billed annually.

Premium: 7 years of history for trend analysis and strategic planning - $542/month billed annually.

Every tier comes with a 7-day free trial (credit card required). Cancel any time during the trial to avoid billing.

Bottom Line: You Can’t Lead Without Market Context

Market share is so much more than sharing stats out of context on LinkedIn. It’s about direction. It shows you where you're winning, where you're exposed, and where the next opportunity lives.

With Polygon Vision, you're not staring at stale, static reports. You're interacting with live, modeled, segmented (real time) data that reflects your market, your competitors, and your strategy down to the ZIP code, loan type, and borrower profile.

Whether you're chasing growth, defending turf, preparing to acquire, or even planning your exit, market share intelligence helps you make better decisions:

  • Lenders use Polygon Vision to identify high-opportunity markets and justify new branch openings.
  • Executives use it to assess acquisition targets, benchmark their business for investors, or prepare for M&A discussions.
  • Some use it to time a sale, knowing when their competitive position is strongest and most attractive.
  • Fintechs and service providers use Polygon Vision to understand how their clients are positioned in the market, so they can deliver smarter products, better partnerships, and more relevant support.

Knowing your market share isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s your leverage.

Polygon Vision gives you that leverage. And once you see it, you’ll wonder how you operated without it.

✅ Start Your 7-Day Free Trial

Pick your tier - Starter, Pro, or Premium - and try Polygon Vision risk-free for 7 days.

🔒 Credit card required. Cancel anytime during the trial.

👉 Start your trial now

How to Analyze Mortgage Market Share and Use It to Drive Growth

Learn how to analyze mortgage market share by loan count or volume and how to use it to compete, grow, and outperform your peers.

Market share and polygon research logo.

Let’s stop treating market share like an annual checkbox.

It’s not a slide for your board deck or a stat for social media. Market share is a lens into how your business is competing, where you’re strong, where you’re exposed, and where the opportunities live.

Mortgage lending is local, fast-moving, and competitive. Market share shows you how the ground is shifting beneath your feet. If you’re not watching it, someone else is, and they’re taking your volume.

What Market Share Actually Measures (And Why It’s Strategic)

At its core, market share is your percentage of all loans closed in a specific market over a specific time period.

You can measure it by:

  • Units - number of loans originated. It is best for tracking transaction activity.
  • Volume - total loan volume. Essential for understanding your impact on revenue, especially in high-balance or jumbo segments.

Both are important. Units show reach, scale and give an insight into how many borrowers you've helped. Dollars show where you’re winning bigger loans or high-value clients. Smart lenders track both.

For example, you might hold a 3% unit share in a suburban zip code, but 5% dollar share, which points to a strategy - you’re winning on higher-priced homes or jumbo deals.

Why Market Share Tells You More Than Internal KPIs

Internal performance metrics like locked volume, funded loans, or LO pipeline are essential. But they only show what’s happening inside your business. They don’t tell you how you're doing relative to the market.

That’s where market share comes in. It adds context and clarity. It shows you how your loan production stacks up relative to all lenders in the markets you care about.

Let’s say you closed 1000 loans last year. Is that growth? Maybe. But if your local market expanded by 25% and your volume only grew 10%, you actually lost ground. You gained loans, but your market share shrank.

Or consider a new loan officer who brought in $5 million in purchase loans. Good result? Not if most of those loans came from ZIP codes where you already had strong performance. Without a market share lens, you can’t tell if you expanded your footprint, or just shifted business internally.

Or consider these scenarios:

  • Your FHA volume in a particular county might look solid, but market share reveals that your top competitor grew 40% year-over-year and passed you.
  • Your team might be consistent in a ZIP code with high loan amounts, but the market itself is expanding, and your share is shrinking even though your volume is flat.
  • You may be strong in conventional, but when you segment by product, geography, or borrower profile, your edge disappears in the exact places your strategy needs to win.

These are signals you won’t catch by looking at internal reports alone. Take a look at the table measuring the market share, the rank, and year-over-year growth of lenders in the 1-4 unit, home purchase segment, loan amount $750-$1 million.

Top Lenders by 2024 Market Share — Purchase, 1–4 Units, Loan Amount $750,000 to < $1,000,000
2024 Rank Lender Name Loan Count Market Share YoY
1 UNITED WHOLESALE MORTGAGE, LLC 10,860 8.65% 63.8%
2 ROCKET MORTGAGE, LLC 6,006 4.78% 80.1%
3 CROSSCOUNTRY MORTGAGE, LLC 3,693 2.94% 69.4%
4 U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 3,162 2.52% 1.5%
5 JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 3,134 2.50% 21.3%
6 GUARANTEED RATE, INC. 2,603 2.07% 59.8%
7 WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 2,414 1.92% -28.1%
8 CMG MORTGAGE, INC. 2,095 1.67% 161.9%
9 BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 1,990 1.59% -14.2%
10 CITIBANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 1,829 1.46% -22.5%
Source: Polygon Vision  |  Filters: Action Type: 2024 Originations • Loan Amount Range: $750,000 to < $1,000,000 • Units: 1–4 • Loan Purpose: Purchase

With Polygon Vision, you can slice the data by loan type, geography, channel, or borrower characteristics, so you can see exactly where you’re gaining ground, where you’re falling behind, and why.

Market share doesn’t replace internal metrics, it gives them meaning. It answers the critical external questions: Are we keeping up with the market? Are we beating competitors in the right places? Are we in position to grow?

The Catch: Most Market Share Data Is a Mess

If you’ve ever tried to calculate market share on your own, using raw HMDA data or vendor PDFs, you know the pain.

Lender names are inconsistent. “XYZ Mortgage,” “XYZ Mtg Inc.,” and “XYZ Mortgage Company” might all be the same lender. On the flip side, some lenders share the same common name (think People’s Bank) but are completely unrelated. Without clean, modeled data, you’re left guessing. And that defeats the point.

Then there’s the format. Too many market share tools serve up static, pre-summarized reports. You get a snapshot. No drill-down. No filters. No way to explore what matters to your business.

And here’s where it gets worse: you're often forced to work with someone else’s idea of what “your market” is.

Just last week, I spoke with an industry contact trying to analyze market share for his investment lending business. He was using another vendor’s HMDA platform, but his company wasn’t even listed there. The data was pre-aggregated, the lender names were a mess, and the platform had no way to segment by strategy or channel. It simply didn’t reflect how his business actually operates.

That’s the danger of flattened, generic market share reporting: it removes the nuance and precision you need to make smart decisions. You can’t define your markets. You can’t focus by product or borrower type. You can’t even validate your own presence.

If you can’t see yourself in the data, how can you trust it to guide your strategy?

Market share isn’t one number. This view shows how lender performance varies by channel and loan type in the same geography, only possible with Polygon Vision’s interactive filters.

Polygon Vision fixes this messy data situation. You define the market. You decide what matters, whether that’s geography, loan type, channel, borrower profile, or time frame. And you get a clear, accurate view of where and how you're competing.

Why Polygon Vision Exists

We built Polygon Vision to solve the practical problems of mortgage market share analysis—so you don’t waste time wrestling with data when you could be acting on insight.

What makes Polygon Vision different

1. Clean, Unified Lender Data

We model and link lender names using a proprietary system, so you get one clean view of every lender, every time.

No duplicates. No missing records. You’ll know exactly who’s winning and where.

2. You Define the Market

Filter by:

  • Geography: MSA, county, zip code, census tract
  • Channel: Broker vs. retail vs. correspondent
  • Loan type: Conventional, FHA, VA, jumbo
  • Loan purpose: Purchase, refi
  • Loan size, borrower race/ethnicity, occupancy, more

Define your competitive landscape the way your business operates—not the way someone else drew a boundary.

3. Interactive, Self-Serve Analysis

No more waiting for a PDF or calling a data vendor for updates.

With Polygon Vision, you can ask your own questions, drill down instantly, and track trends in real time. Need to check your FHA purchase share in Gwinnett County this year vs. last? You’ll have the answer in seconds.

4. Continuously Updated, Built on Deep HMDA Intelligence

We don’t rely solely on the annual HMDA release. Polygon Vision updates monthly, drawing from the CFPB’s weekly data corrections and revisions. That means you’re working with the most complete and up-to-date version of public loan-level data available—modeled, cleaned, and ready for strategic analysis.

5. Designed for Teams and Strategy

Whether you’re a branch manager, a head of production, or the CEO, Polygon Vision supports the questions you care about:

  • Where should we deploy new LOs?
  • Are we gaining ground in our strategic markets?
  • How are we performing in underserved areas?
  • Who are our real competitors, and what are they doing?

6. Simple, Transparent Pricing

We’re not a “call us for pricing” shop. Our tiers are clear.

Starter: 1 year of data - $130/month billed annually.

Pro: 2 years of data - $267/month billed annually.

Premium: 7 years of history for trend analysis and strategic planning - $542/month billed annually.

Every tier comes with a 7-day free trial (credit card required). Cancel any time during the trial to avoid billing.

Bottom Line: You Can’t Lead Without Market Context

Market share is so much more than sharing stats out of context on LinkedIn. It’s about direction. It shows you where you're winning, where you're exposed, and where the next opportunity lives.

With Polygon Vision, you're not staring at stale, static reports. You're interacting with live, modeled, segmented (real time) data that reflects your market, your competitors, and your strategy down to the ZIP code, loan type, and borrower profile.

Whether you're chasing growth, defending turf, preparing to acquire, or even planning your exit, market share intelligence helps you make better decisions:

  • Lenders use Polygon Vision to identify high-opportunity markets and justify new branch openings.
  • Executives use it to assess acquisition targets, benchmark their business for investors, or prepare for M&A discussions.
  • Some use it to time a sale, knowing when their competitive position is strongest and most attractive.
  • Fintechs and service providers use Polygon Vision to understand how their clients are positioned in the market, so they can deliver smarter products, better partnerships, and more relevant support.

Knowing your market share isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s your leverage.

Polygon Vision gives you that leverage. And once you see it, you’ll wonder how you operated without it.

✅ Start Your 7-Day Free Trial

Pick your tier - Starter, Pro, or Premium - and try Polygon Vision risk-free for 7 days.

🔒 Credit card required. Cancel anytime during the trial.

👉 Start your trial now