First quarter 2016 was one of the most unexpected quarters in memory for broker channel market share.

If you had to sum it up in one sentence: the largest players ceded a fat slice of the pie to smaller lenders.

In fact, the top five broker lenders combined posted their lowest market share reading since we began tracking this data six years ago.

Here’s a look at the reported market share for all top 10 lenders in the broker segment, as of first quarter 2016…

Quick takes:

• Q1 broker channel volumes grew 6.7% from the same time last year, slightly faster than the overall market.
• Banks lost a sizable 340 basis points of share in the quarter ending March 31, 2016. They now sit at just 31% of the broker market, the lowest point since we began covering this survey (and down from almost 60% in 2010).
• Non-conforming lenders captured almost a quarter of the market, the most ever.
• Scotiabank and First National have been first and second, respectively, for 19 quarters in a row.
• Scotiabank shed a whopping 320 bps year-over-year. That’s what happens when you’re out of the market with rates.
• Merix Financial posted the best year-over-year gain at +210 bps. That rocketed Merix and its related brands into 4th place, its best showing of all time.
• Provincially, B.C. saw the biggest year-over-year gain in submission volume, up 2.6%. And once again Alberta posted the biggest drop, down 2.4%.

• Data Source: D+H puts out a terrific non-public report called Lender Insights, which compiles lender market share data in the mortgage broker industry. We receive data from that report via third-party sources and have quoted it here. The data above is not confirmed, but is believed reliable. Note: These market share figures do not count MorWeb volumes (D+H’s smaller competitor) and leave out a few lenders who D+H doesn’t report, like CMLS Financial.

Last modified: April 26, 2017