OceanFirst exits mortgage business, hands origination to Embrace

OceanFirst Bank will exit the mortgage origination business and partner with Embrace Home Loans to provide financing options to its customers, a spokesperson confirmed to HousingWire. “Residential lending has become dominated in recent years by large-scale wholesale mortgage companies and financial technology firms, prompting many banks to re-evaluate their mortgage business models,” said Jill Hewitt, senior vice president and director of corporate communications and marketing at OceanFirst. Hewitt added that the bank will now focus on expanding its commercial banking operations. Over the past 12 months, OceanFirst originated about $870 million in mortgages, according to mortgage tech platform Modex. The company operates with 230 loan officers across 45 branches. Embrace is larger, producing $1.73 billion during the same period through 152 loan officers and 35 branches. The partnership with Embrace is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2025 to “ensure that residential loan financing options remain available to the Bank’s customers and communities we serve,” Hewitt said. The move will result in 114 layoffs in Toms River, New Jersey, starting in December, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice filed with state authorities. “This change affects a number of employees in multiple New Jersey locations, mostly in the residential mortgage area of the Bank, who will receive commensurate severance and career transition assistance,” Hewitt said. OceanFirst’s retreat from mortgage lending follows recent investments in the sector. In August 2024, it acquired Garden State Home Loans Inc., which became a new division of the bank. A month later, it reached a $15 million conciliation agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD) and the  U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to settle allegations of discriminatory redlining in majority Black, Hispanic and Asian neighborhoods.