{"id":63213,"date":"2026-06-09T03:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T01:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/housesmarketplace.com\/mortgage-and-real-estate-battle-for-the-top-of-the-funnel\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T03:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T01:00:17","slug":"mortgage-and-real-estate-battle-for-the-top-of-the-funnel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housesmarketplace.com\/ru\/mortgage-and-real-estate-battle-for-the-top-of-the-funnel\/","title":{"rendered":"Mortgage and real estate battle for the top of the funnel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Like many mortgage professionals, Vipul Hapani can see the wave of industry consolidation forming on the horizon and knows it is only a matter of time before it reaches his shores.<\/p>\n

As the broker-owner of Waxhaw, North Carolina-based Vema Mortgage<\/strong>\u2014the third-largest brokerage originator<\/a> in the U.S. in 2025, according to HousingWire Mortgage Rankings<\/strong><\/a>\u2014Hapani hasn\u2019t yet felt a direct, measurable impact from the deals forging mega-players in real estate and mortgage. However, he firmly believes the ripple effects are imminent.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing dramatic has shifted for us yet, but I\u2019m watching this closely,\u201d Hapani told \u0416\u0438\u043b\u044c\u0435\u041f\u0440\u043e\u0432\u043e\u043b\u043e\u043a\u0430<\/strong>. \u201cThe industry is consolidating around a few very large closed ecosystems\u2026\u00a0 Leads, which used to flow more openly to the broader market, are increasingly going to be captured and routed internally.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With interest rates in a higher-for-longer environment, mortgage and real estate companies have realized that long-term survival requires market share growth. To achieve this, industry titans are constructing housing ecosystems designed to capture buyers at every stage: beginning with the home search, funneling into pre-approval and application, securing the home contract and transitioning into a post-close servicing relationship.<\/p>\n

This drive for scale is manifesting in various strategies: mortgage companies are acquiring real estate portals, brokerage firms are joining forces and combining their affiliated mortgage operations, and lenders are striking strategic partnerships with real estate firms to offer exclusive financial benefits to mutual borrowers.<\/p>\n

The biggest theme across these transactions is the race to control consumer leads at scale. <\/p>\n

\u0420\u0430\u043a\u0435\u0442\u0430<\/strong>\u2019s acquisition of \u041a\u0440\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e\u043f\u0435\u0440\u044b\u0439<\/strong> gives it access to roughly 50 million monthly visitors, while its later alliance with \u041a\u043e\u043c\u043f\u0430\u0441<\/strong> International Holdings<\/strong> expands distribution through Compass\u2019s large agent network. \u041d\u0438\u0436\u0435<\/strong>\u2019s acquisition of \u041c\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0442\u043e <\/strong>adds more than 150 million annual portal visits, while Compass\u2019s acquisition of \u0412\u0435\u0437\u0434\u0435<\/strong> creates a combined network of roughly 340,000 agents.<\/p>\n

Coby Hakalir<\/a>, who leads the mortgage banking division at real estate consultancy firm T3 Sixty<\/strong>, said these transactions are the result of a market starved of growth for four to five consecutive years. The industry has been bottlenecked at roughly 5 million purchase mortgages annually, supplemented by only small, fleeting pockets of refinance activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have is both mortgage and real estate going through this period where there\u2019s not a lot of organic market growth and the margins are thinning,\u201d Hakalir said.<\/p>\n

To illustrate the squeeze, Hakalir noted that the average profit margin for a mortgage lender currently hovers around $700 per loan, while real estate margins sit at just $600 per transaction. Citing \u0410\u0441\u0441\u043e\u0446\u0438\u0430\u0446\u0438\u044f \u0438\u043f\u043e\u0442\u0435\u0447\u043d\u044b\u0445 \u0431\u0430\u043d\u043a\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0432<\/strong> (MBA) data, he pointed out that while 76% of mortgage companies remain \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0431\u044b\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439<\/a>, some are clearing just a few dollars per file. On the real estate side, the picture is even bleaker: 32% of companies actively lost money in 2025, with the remaining 68% posting EBITDA margins between zero and 3%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the necessity side: shrinking margins, a market that is not as dynamic as we would hope it would be, elevated interest rates, constrained supply, and an overall lackluster buyer demand. Those are all components of a market that requires consolidation, innovation, a combination of those two, and if you don\u2019t do one of those two things, then you\u2019re probably unprofitable, and you\u2019re probably going to die.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The consolidation on the real estate side, Hakalir added, showcases exactly what happens when bigger players try to figure out how to dominate market share: \u201cIf I am going to be only marginally profitable, then I better do a lot of volume.\u201d<\/p>\n

Implication for mortgage lenders\u00a0<\/h2>\n

But the consolidation of large real estate companies, driven largely by the financial advantages of scale, is likely to create headwinds for independent mortgage lenders, according to Brett Ludden, managing director of mortgage solutions at \u041c\u0438\u043b\u043b\u0438\u043c\u0430\u043d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cReferrals from real estate relationships remain the primary source of purchase lead generation. As real estate agencies consolidate, those transactions are increasingly likely to steer leads away from lenders\u2019 existing referral networks and toward entities affiliated with the real estate firms,\u201d Ludden said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the mortgage side, lenders are acquiring real estate portals specifically for their lead-generation power, according to Michael Linger, director of Houlihan Lokey<\/strong>\u2018s financial services group. These platforms often feature built-in real estate broker networks as a core part of their monetization model.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are firms whose bread and butter is in distributed retail, so they\u2019re looking for ways through direct-to-consumer to jump up the funnel,\u201d Linger said. \u201cThis is a way to get a consumer at the first inkling, when they\u2019re starting to look for a transaction, which is particularly valuable in a purchase-heavy market. It\u2019s been one of the natural market adaptations from people that don\u2019t foresee in the near future \u2013 setting aside exigent circumstances \u2013 that there\u2019s going to be a material rate decrease.\u201d<\/p>\n

This aggressive maneuvering naturally has the potential to create significant channel conflicts. For instance, \u041a\u043e\u043c\u043f\u0430\u0441<\/strong> \u2014 which previously maintained several joint ventures with \u0421\u0442\u0430\u0432\u043a\u0430<\/strong> \u2014 recently inked a major partnership with \u0420\u0430\u043a\u0435\u0442\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0438\u043f\u043e\u0442\u0435\u043a\u0430<\/strong> \u0438 \u0420\u0430\u043a\u0435\u0442\u0430 \u041f\u0440\u043e<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you see the chess pieces moving around the board, at some point somebody\u2019s chess piece is going to fall off the end when there\u2019s a lot of movement, and I think that Rate is experiencing some of that with the JVs that they had in place with Compass,\u201d Hakalir said. \u201cCompass is clearly trying to make some big moves and position themselves for the long term, and I think that they\u2019ve made the bet that Rocket is probably a better partner for that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Potential conflicts\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Another challenge stems from how portals position themselves in the ongoing listings debate. The real estate industry is increasingly fracturing into three distinct listing strategies.<\/p>\n