Mortgage giant Rocket Cos on Monday said it’s buying Mr. Cooper, the largest mortgage-servicing company in the US, for $9.4 billion in an all-stock deal. If approved, the acquisition would add 7 million clients to Rocket’s roster and send its servicing book total up to a whopping $2.1 trillion. Rocket would control of one out of every six US mortgages.
The announcement comes in the same month that Rocket announced plans to buy real estate listing platform Redfin for $1.75 billion. The Redfin deal is expected to close in the second or third quarter, followed by the Mr. Cooper deal in the fourth.
This consolidation blastoff is happening as US home sales remain anemic, with elevated borrowing costs weighing down sales. Home sales rose 4.2% in February from the month prior, but were down 1.2% year over year. Prices climbed for the 20th month in a row — with the US median sale price up nearly 50% over the past five years.
