Weekly Real Estate News
Summary
Ohio-based SB Financial Group originated $77.7 million of mortgages in the third quarter of 2026, up nearly 15% from a year earlier. Its servicing portfolio reached $1.518 billion and mortgage banking revenue rose to $1.8 million. The company reported $3.9 million in quarterly net income.
SB Financial Group increased mortgage originations by nearly 15% in the third quarter, offering a contrasting result to the weaker loan demand reported by several larger housing finance businesses.
The Defiance, Ohio-based parent of State Bank reported $77.7 million in mortgage originations for the quarter ended September 30, compared with $67.6 million a year earlier. The gain came despite a modest sequential decline from $79.3 million in the second quarter, according to the company’s October 22 earnings release.
Mortgage banking revenue rose to $1.8 million, an increase of $293,000 from the third quarter of 2025. The company reported mortgage sales of $66.5 million, little changed from $66.4 million a year earlier. Its mortgage servicing portfolio reached $1.518 billion, up from $1.470 billion in September 2025.
Servicing provides a recurring revenue base
SB Financial said loan servicing fees totaled $946,000 during the quarter, an increase from a year earlier. The company’s mortgage servicing rights were valued at $16.2 million at September 30, compared with $15.3 million a year before. The rights represent expected economic benefits from administering loans, and their accounting value can change with assumptions about prepayments, interest rates and servicing costs.
The company recorded a $43,000 recapture in its mortgage servicing rights valuation adjustment, compared with a negative $301,000 adjustment in the year-earlier period. Such valuation changes affect reported results but do not necessarily represent cash collected from borrowers.
For the broader company, third-quarter net income was $3.9 million, or 63 cents per diluted share, compared with $4 million, or 64 cents, a year earlier. Total loans reached $1.22 billion, up 9.7%, while deposits climbed to $1.38 billion, up 9.5%.
A regional lender in a difficult national market
SB Financial’s mortgage results should be read in the context of its size and regional footprint. Its production is a small fraction of national volume and may reflect local referral relationships, loan mix and operational factors that do not apply to larger lenders.
Mortgage applications nationally fell 5.3% in the MBA’s latest weekly survey, and Freddie Mac reported a 7.32% average 30-year mortgage rate on October 22. The SB Financial figures cover a full quarter and cannot be directly compared with either weekly indicator.
The lender’s servicing portfolio grew faster than its mortgage sales, giving it an additional source of fee income as new-loan activity fluctuates. Future reports will show whether originations can hold up as higher mortgage rates work through purchase and refinance pipelines.
Source: SB Financial Group third-quarter 2026 earnings release, October 22. Featured photograph: Dimitri Karastelev / Unsplash; illustrative mortgage signing, not an SB Financial transaction.
