ABN AMRO’s real estate loan production drops

ABN AMRO Mortgage Group's second-quarter loan production dropped 21 percent from a year ago, the company reported today. The lender's production total for the second quarter of 2005 was $15.4 billion, down from  $19.4 billion during the second quarter of 2004. The drop in second-quarter production was across all of AAMG's business channels: InterFirst Wholesale Lending (-16 percent); National Lending Center (-63 percent); Standard Federal Bank and LaSalle Bank loan origination channels (-12 percent); and the Financial Institutions Group (-45 percent). "With mortgage interest rates hovering near six percent in the second quarter, AAMG's production was driven by both purchases and refinances," said Mike Maher, AAMG's executive vice president. "AAMG's production in the second quarter is also reflective of real estate market conditions that are creating a favorable purchase environment. The current buyer's real estate market is helping a wide variety of consumers purchase a home...