Hudson City Mortgage Applications Running at Record Pace
June 11 2008 - 11:46AM
PR Newswire (US)
PARAMUS, N.J., June 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hudson City
Bancorp, Inc.'s ("Hudson City") (NASDAQ:HCBK) mortgage applications
are continuing to come in at a record pace. This performance
contrasts dramatically with the Mortgage Bankers Association
report, released last week that "U.S. mortgage applications fell
for the third consecutive week, reaching its lowest level in over
six years." In the report released today, "The Mortgage Bankers
Association said its seasonally adjusted mortgage application
index, boosted by increased demand for both purchase and refinance
loans, rose 10.9 percent in the June 6 week. In the worst U.S.
housing market since the Great Depression, some signs are emerging
that deep discounts are starting to entice buyers." The Wall Street
Journal also reported, "Total U.S. home mortgage originations in
the first quarter dropped 29% to $480 billion." In contrast, Hudson
City mortgage production was up 17% through May 31, 2008 compared
to the corresponding period last year. According to Ronald E.
Hermance, Jr., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer,
"Our growth is due, in part, to a significant increase in market
share as well as through the refinancing of mortgages held by our
competitors. In fact, during the first quarter of 2008, we received
an 11 to 1 advantage of applications to refinance mortgages held by
our competitors over mortgages held by Hudson City. In the second
quarter of 2008 we continue to experience that favorable trend but
have begun to see an almost 50/50 split between home purchase loan
activity and refinancings with the average size of new mortgage
requests exceeding $600,000." The Mortgage Bankers Association
Report sited significantly tighter lending standards and reports
that souring demand for home loans last week have been tied to
sharply higher interest rates on mortgages. According to Hermance,
"The fact that we are The Most Efficient Bank in America, have a
strong capital base and have been unwilling to compromise our
pristine mortgage quality while growing the Bank provide us with a
significant cost advantage in the marketplace. We are currently
offering mortgage rates as low as 6.25% on 30 year fixed rate
loans." Hudson City performance has not gone unnoticed by Wall
Street. According to a recent Bloomberg article, Hudson City
Bancorp Inc. received the highest average analyst ratings among
bank stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Furthermore,
Forbes recently named Hudson City "The Best-Managed Bank of 2007"
and Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's hit financial news program, Mad
Money, presented Hudson City's Hermance with his inaugural "Banker
of the Year" award. The Wall Street Journal Scoreboard of 1,000
companies across 75 industry groups also cited Hudson City as the
#2 bank in the country for its 5-year average return of 23.6%.
Hudson City Savings Bank, among the top fifty banks in the United
States by asset size, is recognized as The Most Efficient Bank in
the country. This enables Hudson City to deliver significant values
to customers in the form of higher deposit yields, competitive
mortgage rates, and lower fees. Hudson City, the largest savings
bank headquartered in New Jersey, also serves customers throughout
the surrounding metropolitan area with branches located in
Westchester, Fairfield, Putnam, and Rockland counties, as well as
in Long Island, Staten Island, and the New Jersey suburbs of
Philadelphia. Deposit accounts at Hudson City are FDIC insured to
the maximum allowed by law. This release may contain certain
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and may be identified by
the use of such words as "may," "believe," "expect," "anticipate,"
"should," "plan," "estimate," "predict," "continue," and
"potential" or the negative of these terms or other comparable
terminology. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but
are not limited to, estimates with respect to the financial
condition, results of operations and business of Hudson City
Bancorp that are subject to various factors which could cause
actual results to differ materially from these estimates. Any or
all of the forward-looking statements in this release and in any
other public statements made by Hudson City may turn out to be
wrong. They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions Hudson City
might make or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties.
Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed.
Hudson City does not intend to update any of the forward-looking
statements after the date of this release or to conform these
statements to actual events. DATASOURCE: Hudson City Bancorp, Inc.
CONTACT: Susan Munhall, Investor Relations, Hudson City Bancorp,
Inc., +1-201-967-8290, Web site: http://www.hcsbonline.com/
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