By Harold Brubaker, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Aug. 9--The chief executive of mortgage lender PHH Corp. in Mount Laurel yesterday gave a dismal outlook for the remainder of the year.
"We feel great long term, but we don't feel good about what the next six months might bring," Terence W. Edwards, president and CEO of PHH, said during a conference call with investors.
The executive said there's no chance the company, which also operates a vehicle fleet management business, will hit its target of $39 billion in mortgage originations this year, even though it had made $20.7 billion in mortgages through June.
"While I don't want to make a trend out of a week-and-a-half of August activity, volume is very, very slow," Edwards said.
PHH, which provides mortgage-origination services to banks and other financial companies, has seen business from every one of its customers slow, Edwards said.
He blamed higher mortgage interest rates, which makes it more expensive to buy houses, and tighter credit standards by lenders, by mortgage financier Fannie Mae and by mortgage insurers, such as Radian Group Inc. in Philadelphia.
"Lenders want to lend, but they want to lend much more prudently than they have in the past," Edwards said.
He said he had little confidence that the nation's credit-market turmoil is nearing an end. "Based on just what we've seen happen in the last five or six weeks, we don't think we're past the fifth inning yet," he said.
PHH's shares gained 64 cents, or 4 percent, to close at $16.37 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Contact staff writer Harold Brubaker at 215-854-4651 or hbrubaker@phillynews.com.
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Story Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer
