Rocket Companies, Inc. (RKT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for being with us on Rocket Companies' earnings call for the third quarter of 2026. Joining us this afternoon are Varun Krishna, CEO of Rocket Companies, along with our President and CFO, Brian Brown. We released our third quarter earnings earlier today, and you can find it on our website, rocketcompanies.com, under investor info. An investor presentation is also posted there. Before handing things to Varun, let me run through our disclaimers quickly. During today's call, we'll share information about how we performed in the third quarter and also our financial outlook. This conference call contains forward-looking statements. Such statements carry risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations and assumptions we discuss today. We urge you to review the risk factors in our SEC filings for a detailed discussion of these risks and uncertainties. We assume no obligation to update these statements because of new information or subsequent events, except as the law requires. This call is being webcast and can be accessed on our Investor Relations website. A replay will be posted later today. Today's commentary will also include non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP metrics for reported results are available in the earnings release we issued earlier today and in our SEC filings; with that, I'll hand it to Varun Krishna to kick us off. Varun?

Good afternoon, and thank you for being with us on our third quarter earnings call. I'll cover three things today: I'll take you through the market, go over our results, and demonstrate what three years of rebuilding Rocket has delivered. Here's the truth about tough markets: they don't lie; they strip everything down to what's real: who has the capital to keep investing, whose model works in any cycle, who can win their clients back, and who can move fast when it counts. This quarter did all of this. Between June and September, the 10-year Treasury climbed 80 basis points to 5.3%, the highest level in 24 years. The 30-year mortgage rate rose over 80 basis points, reaching 7.3%. On an annualized basis, existing home sales fell under 4 million. Refinance applications dropped by more than 50% from the prior year. Heading into the end of the quarter, total applications declined for four consecutive weeks. For American families attempting to purchase a home, the math shifted from difficult to brutal. We delivered in that very market. Adjusted revenue came in at $2.6 billion, close to the midpoint of our guidance. We saw share gains in both purchase and refinance, quarter over quarter and year over year. Adjusted EBITDA was $748 million, and margins expanded to 29%. That marked our strongest margin in close to five years, and the fourth straight quarter of improvement since the Mr. Cooper deal closed. We posted adjusted net income of $419 million, or 15 cents in adjusted EPS. To frame it differently: during one of the toughest mortgage environments in a generation, we gained share, widened margins, and delivered 15 cents of adjusted EPS. Rocket’s success isn’t luck. Three years ago, we made a choice: to rebuild this company at every level — an ecosystem serving clients from the home search all the way through servicing, a tech platform designed for scale, speed, and efficiency, distribution reaching homebuyers and homeowners wherever they are, and a fortress balance sheet, which now holds more than $11 billion in liquidity, enabling us to keep investing while others retreat. With that combination, Rocket stands squarely in a category of one: number one in purchase, refinance, home equity, and servicing. Now let me bring you back to late 2023, the last time rates ran this high. At that point, we were unprofitable. Today, in a market that's just as brutal, we delivered 15 cents of adjusted EPS and gained market share. Identical conditions, yet a different Rocket — one that stays durable across cycles. Where does that durability originate? Two places. First, our business model is designed to work in any cycle. Second, our technology delivers a better, faster, and more affordable experience for our clients. Let me start with the model. Over 70% of our revenue this year comes from recurring or less rate-sensitive sources: servicing fees, subscriptions, purchase, cash-out refinance, and home equity. Let me take you inside two of them: purchase and servicing. Purchase begins with Redfin, and every home search starts on that platform. Inside each listing, there's now a path to Rocket Mortgage. Prospective buyers reach us before they've even placed a bid. Here's what we're observing: visitors clicking through to start a purchase mortgage transaction are up 50% compared with a year ago. Refinance leads we source through Redfin also more than doubled this quarter versus the same period last year. Compass simply carries that same playbook further and provides what buyers value most: homes, along with the agents who sell them. Cumulative unique listings now total nearly 40,000, versus roughly 25,000 in the prior quarter — homes you won't find anywhere else. Net rate lock volume for Rocket Pro through Compass has exceeded $3 billion since February, a 50% increase over last quarter. And then there's servicing, our ballast: over $1 billion per quarter in servicing fees, and more than $4 billion annually. That figure represents three times what it was three years back. It's recurring cash flow regardless of the rate environment—revenue that arrives whether rates sit at 4% or 8%. What causes it to compound is this: since we know these clients, we're at the front of the line when they're ready for their next loan. During Q3, recapture across the combined portfolio reached the highest level in our history. Our recapture rate is several times greater than the industry's; on our platform, servicing functions not merely as an annuity but as a growth engine. Home equity adds to the advantage. This country holds a record $12 trillion in tappable home equity, and home equity loans enable owners to unlock cash while keeping their first lien rate. That's connecting well with the customers we already serve. So far this year, roughly two-thirds of our home equity clients have their first mortgage serviced by Rocket as well. Technology is our second advantage, and I'll be blunt about it: the future of this industry will be settled right here. Throughout most of this industry's past, a mortgage progressed only as fast as paperwork and business hours allowed. AI takes away both of those constraints. In what way does technology win? Here are four proof points from this quarter. The first is credit pulls. We rethought the way credit gets pulled across every digital lead, purchase and refinance, with AI agents guiding a client through the entire process. AI finished that step prior to any conversation between the client and a loan officer on close to 20% of our direct-to-consumer volume. Twelve months ago, that figure stood at zero. Consider what this represents: our loan officers now devote their time to clients who are prepared to proceed. Next, the fully digital refinance. We discarded the form completely and rebuilt the experience with agents at its center. Clients may opt to pull their credit, view their loan options, and lock their rate without any conversation with a loan officer. During Q3, digital accounted for over 40% of all direct-to-consumer refinance applications, and digital leads converted at four times the rate of every other channel. Identical demand, greater growth. Third is voice. AI voice agents have become a core part of serving each of our clients. 65% of inbound servicing calls are handled by the platform, and over half of those are resolved without any human involvement; it's natural, personal, and available around the clock. Answers reach clients in seconds, and our team spends its time on what humans do best. Fourth is the agentic future. Consumers are starting to shop with their own AI agents — Meta's Muse, for example — which compare price, speed, and ratings across lenders, giving people more transparency and control; we saw that coming. Over the last 18 months, we built the APIs and protocols those agents need to complete the mortgage process with Rocket from beginning to end. Here's what matters about agents: your brand means nothing to them; two things matter: the best price, and the easiest close. As Rocket, we perform strongly on both. Taken together: Rocket is quicker, easier, and more affordable, available 24/7 through every channel, from AI agents to face to face. Our structural cost advantage returns directly to clients via improved rates and offerings such as our preferred pricing bundle. Where do we head next? I'll end where I began: tough markets don't lie, they reveal what's real. In this quarter, we saw a company whose revenue came in around the middle of our guidance range, whose margins expanded for a fourth quarter in a row, and that picked up share in both purchase and refinance within one of the toughest markets this industry has ever seen. At these same rates three years ago, we were losing money. Now we're making it. The rates didn't move — we did. We designed Rocket to be the sturdiest vessel when the seas get rough. We're engineered to expand regardless of where rates go. Rather than sit back and wait on the market, we're grabbing the reins. With that said, I'll hand things over to Brian.

Thanks, Varun, and good afternoon to everyone. Today I'll take you through the third quarter results, the expense discipline that drove our margin expansion, and the strength of our balance sheet. I'll finish with how we see the fourth quarter shaping up. Let's begin with the results. Q3 proved a difficult quarter for the mortgage industry. The 30-year fixed rate opened the quarter at 6.4% and climbed to 7.3% by the end of September. The MBA's mortgage application index dropped in 10 of the 13 weeks during the quarter. Applications came in 23% below the second quarter average. Those headwinds have continued into the fourth quarter, which I'll address more in our outlook. In that environment, Rocket picked up share in purchase and refinance alike. We pushed adjusted EBITDA margin to its best mark in almost five years, and we closed the quarter with liquidity at a record high. Adjusted revenue totaled $2.6 billion, near the middle of our guidance range. Adjusted EBITDA reached $748 million, a 29% margin, compared with 28% in the prior quarter. That gives us a fourth straight quarter of margin improvement and the strongest reading since the fourth quarter of 2021. Adjusted net income came in at $419 million, with adjusted diluted EPS of 15 cents. Under GAAP, total revenue was $3.3 billion and net income was $709 million, or 25 cents per diluted share. We produced $40.4 billion in net rate lock volume and $43.6 billion in closed loan volume. Even though the market was smaller, we increased our share in both purchase and refinance. According to our estimates, purchase market share came close to 6.5%, while refinance market share reached 15.5%. That's up against the 6.2% and 14.3% figures reported in the second quarter. On the purchase side, the money we've put into distribution is delivering results. Rocket Local is our group of in-market loan officers who collaborate directly with real estate agents in their local communities. Rocket Local's volume rose more than 30% year over year, and we've expanded that team to over 400 loan officers throughout major metro areas. Through Redfin and Compass, our reach grows further — and right now, a Redfin or Compass agent represents one out of every five purchase clients we serve. Wholesale is expanding too. Roughly 200 new Rocket Pro partners have joined our platform in the past few months, which works out to $12 billion in potential annual volume. Every loan officer and Pro broker partner gets the full strength of the Rocket platform supporting them. Routine work is handled by the platform, freeing them to concentrate on relationships. The result is greater productivity for them and a better, faster, more affordable experience for clients. On the refinance side, home equity loans stood out as the highlight. We hit a record for volume, since homeowners accessed the equity in their properties while keeping the rate on their first lien unchanged. Cash-out refinance activity stayed solid, helped by yet another increase in recapture. On the combined portfolio, recapture rates hit an all-time peak — the fourth quarter in a row of gains. Our gain on sale margin, leaving out correspondent, came to 333 basis points, compared with 311 basis points in the prior quarter. That improvement stemmed from stronger direct-to-consumer margins, which rose to 431 basis points in the second quarter from 413 basis points. The increase reflects a larger share of home equity volume, which carries higher gain on sale margins with it. As Varun noted, Rocket today is a fundamentally different company from what it was three years ago. Our foundation is servicing. We hold the largest servicing position in the country, with $2 trillion of unpaid principal balance spanning 9.1 million clients. For the third quarter, servicing produced $1 billion of fee income. As rates climbed, the fair market value of our MSRs, net of hedges, grew to $710 million during the quarter. Our recapture engine functions as a natural hedge, so we don't have to hedge away all of the upside, and when rates decline, recapture makes up for the drop in value; now let me take you through what powered our profitability expansion. This story breaks into two pieces: tight cost control, plus ongoing tech spending that gives us flexibility around our fixed costs. Starting with costs: total expenses were $2.3 billion, down $175 million versus the second quarter. Some of that drop is synergies, and the rest is variable costs tied to volume. In the quarter, we captured $300 million of Mr. Cooper expense synergies. We expect the last $100 million of annualized savings to come in the fourth quarter, reaching the full $400 million a year ahead of the original schedule. As we noted last quarter, on top of the $400 million of Mr. On Cooper cost synergies, we can see a clear path to another $100 million of yearly savings, and we expect to capture that during the first half of 2027. The second thing pushing our profitability higher is our technology platform. A lot of lenders lease their tech. We built ours in-house across both origination and servicing, and we combine it with the industry's richest client data sets. When the system and the data are yours, you aren't stuck waiting for a vendor's roadmap. We can create AI, put it into production, and expand it throughout the company more quickly than competitors who rely on rented systems. We now have a cost to originate and service that leads the industry. On the top line, the AI capabilities Varun described boost conversion—more of the leads we already generate become closed loans and lifetime client relationships, with no extra acquisition cost. On the bottom line, AI takes on more of the routine work in origination and servicing and keeps driving down our cost per loan. Those savings are structural. That's where the optionality comes in. The traditional mortgage model adds capacity by adding headcount. That isn't how we run the business. We've built more than $300 billion of origination capacity without needing to add fixed costs. Should conditions stay weak, we have the ability to bring costs in line with demand while retaining the capacity we require. Once things improve, competitors will be adding staff to catch up, but our capacity will already be there. A rate recovery isn't necessary for us to do well—yet if it does come, we're positioned to gain from it. Underpinning all of this is the industry's strongest balance sheet. We ended the quarter with record liquidity totaling $11.4 billion, including $2.7 billion in cash. Net corporate leverage is below one turn, and we're the sole independent mortgage company holding an investment grade rating. That carries more weight today than it has at any moment in the past few years. A lot of lenders entered this market with thinner capital and heavier leverage, and rising rates are putting their balance sheets and their business models to the test. In conditions like these, capital serves as offense, not merely defense; we have the capital to continue investing and to seize opportunities as they appear. Investing across the cycle is how we extend the advantages we hold today: our technology platform, our servicing portfolio, our ecosystem, our distribution, our brand, and our talent. We'll keep investing and keep broadening that gap; now, moving to our fourth quarter outlook. To repeat what I mentioned before, conditions in the market remain difficult. Year over year, the MBA purchase application index is down almost 20%, and refinance applications have dropped by over 50%. For our industry, the fourth quarter is always seasonally slow, and in 2022 that slowdown is happening at the same time mortgage rates have reached levels not seen in twenty years. During the last quarter, we shared that our real-time data pointed to a third quarter mortgage market that was smaller than Q2 — a situation the industry had not seen since 2022. And that is exactly what happened in the third quarter. As of today, based on our estimates, those same data indicate a fourth quarter market that is well below the forecasts the industry has published. Putting a finer point on it, we see the refinance market contracting by nearly 50% versus the third quarter, and that would push total mortgage activity down near lows not seen in decades. Given that environment, adjusted revenue for the fourth quarter should land between $2.1 billion and $2.3 billion. Continued share gains are baked into our guidance. Turning to expenses: assuming the midpoint of that revenue range, total expenses would come to $2 billion $50 million, and that figure includes $110 million of intangible amortization, $80 million of stock-based compensation, plus $10 million in one-time integration costs. Strip those out and expenses would be $1 billion $850 million, which is $165 million lower than the third quarter. Our guidance, as it always does, incorporates the latest market data and what we can currently see. To wrap up: difficult conditions reveal who’s built to last. During this period, interest rates climbed, volume declined, and the sector felt the pressure. Rocket gained market share, widened margins, realized cost synergies sooner than scheduled, and finished with liquidity at an all-time high. The fourth quarter is going to be even more challenging. We’re prepared. With that, operator, let’s take questions.

Thanks for taking the questions, and well done on executing in this difficult environment. Clearly, mortgage rates have risen substantially over the past couple of months, and for us, for Fannie Mae, and really for anyone forecasting the origination market, the outlook has obviously come down considerably, for both 4Q and '27. I was hoping you might expand a little more on the backdrop you're seeing, on what market assumptions are baked into that 4Q guide, and on how you're approaching market share. If you're open to discussing '27 a bit, I'd be interested in hearing how you view the capacity to keep generating profits, even should we hit a stretch where the industry environment becomes even tougher. That would be great. Thank you so much.

Hey, Ryan. Thanks a lot for that question. Let me begin by unpacking the '27 market outlook somewhat, and then I'll team up with Brian to dig a little deeper into the Q4 guide. Honestly, this could be the hardest mortgage market in over 30 years. Honestly, I actually enjoy challenging markets, since in this extremely high-priced environment nobody truly has anywhere to conceal themselves, correct? Sure enough, mortgage applications have fallen to their weakest point since January of '25, and Redfin says homebuyer demand is genuinely the lowest it has been since 2013. Rocket possesses a rather distinctive window into this marketplace, right? As the biggest mortgage lender, we work across every channel and every state, so we witness quite a bit. On top of that, Redfin provides us unusually clear sight into demand before purchasers even submit applications. We had been predicting a smaller market than the industry's forecasts, and that is essentially precisely what has materialized quarter after quarter after quarter. Looking ahead to 2027, projections sit under $2 trillion—and in our view, the actual figure may end up lower than that. Here's what matters most: this is precisely the scenario we've been preparing for. When conditions are favorable, everybody appears strong, yet once the market gets difficult, reality surfaces somewhat. For the past three years, we've been constructing our business around exactly this kind of environment. That explains why recurring revenue makes up 70% of our total, which is less affected by interest rates, and why our origination capacity exceeds $300 billion—something that stems directly from what we've put into technology. A useful comparison is 2023 — the most recent period when rates sat near these heights — and back then Rocket was unprofitable. Now, in what may be a harder climate, with rates above 7% once more, we're gaining share and widening margins. That speaks to how resilient our business model is. Set those two stretches next to each other and you're looking at two fairly different versions of Rocket, which strikes me as instructive. So that's roughly the backdrop for Q4 and gives a bit of a window into '27; on that note, Brian, perhaps you could go into somewhat more detail regarding the 4Q guide.

Absolutely, and it's great to hear from you, Ryan. I think I'll begin with Q3, since that seems like a solid launching point for discussing Q4. As you mentioned, Q3 results came in quite strong, and I couldn't be more proud of the team. Purchase remains a standout area. If I drill down specifically there, you heard me mention Rocket Local in the prepared remarks. It's beginning to add to purchase growth in a significant way. That's 400 loan officers operating in communities across the US, and comparing their volume year over year, it's up more than 30%. We're aware that realtors enjoy collaborating with loan officers in their own local communities, and Rocket Local is starting to demonstrate that. On the wholesale side, our approach of delivering the finest technology and capabilities to brokers is paying off, and we brought on a record number of brokers during the last quarter—more than 200 of them—and I anticipate that volume carrying into next year; on the refinance side, it's unsurprising that rate and term is somewhat under pressure, yet cash-out and home equity kept outperforming even what we expected. As a reminder, that home equity business genuinely helps lift the gain on sale margins during the quarter that you observed come through. Naturally, I would be remiss without mentioning recapture, as it pertains to both refinance and purchase, but we've reached record recapture levels on the legacy Cooper book now, considerably ahead of our initial synergy targets, which we had said we wouldn't achieve until two years from now. Moving to Q4, well, Varun put it nicely. I anticipate Q4 being difficult. You've got the usual seasonality, which we typically gauge at roughly 15% to 18% down historically when comparing Q4 with Q3, but with the steep rises in rates, I anticipate considerable pressure on rate and term refinance during Q4. We can gauge nearly a 50% decline on the refinance side as we head into Q4. Should all these conditions persist, it might be one of our weakest origination quarters in three decades—or weakest market quarters, rather, in three decades—and all of that is captured in our guidance, which we consider quite strong given this environment. We still anticipate cash-out and second liens being productive, and we expect to gain share in a purchase market that stays challenged, though considerably less so than refinance.

That's genuinely helpful. Thank you.

Thanks a lot. Hi there, Varun. Hello, Brian. I'd like to ask something with a few parts, all about expenses. To start with the 4Q guidance, Brian — I think you said there would be a $165 million decline sequentially. Could you talk a little about how much of that is driven by volume and how much by other savings? And then, thinking more broadly, Brian, I believe you made a remark about getting the cost structure in line with demand. I recall you pointed to an additional $100 million of cost savings in 1Q one across the first half of '27, but could you say more about that realigning the cost structure comment, and do you see further levers beyond that $100 million? Many thanks.

Thank you, Ryan. I appreciate it. I'll take your questions. To give a bit of context, I'd like to start with where we stand on synergies. Our goal for Mr. Cooper was $400 million. By the close of the third quarter, we've captured about $300 million of that $400 million, and I anticipate the remaining $100 million coming through in the fourth quarter. That works out to roughly $25 million of impact in Q4, but on an annualized basis it's $100 million; this will get us to our synergy target a full year early, and I'm genuinely proud of the team, especially given how challenging the market has been while we keep gaining share. As you mentioned, in Q4—after accounting for intangibles, stock-based compensation, and one-time costs—I'm expecting expenses to decline by roughly $165 million compared with Q3. Because Q4 reflects the full realization of Cooper synergies, I view that as a solid baseline for our fixed cost structure heading into 2027. I should also note, since you brought up the other $100 million, that our efforts don't end there. On the last call, we indicated we had line of sight into a further $100 million—separate from and in addition to the $400 million in Cooper synergies—and we anticipate realizing that during the first half of 2027. Beyond that, we're being exhaustive in examining vendor and third-party costs, and we're also refining our marketing initiatives. Beyond that $100 million, you also brought up capacity, which is a fair point; we've built considerable excess capacity into the system, and given where rates stand right now, we're examining that closely. Our capacity sits above $300 billion. Look, that optionality is extremely valuable, and we'll keep assessing it against demand, with more to share on the next earnings call.

Appreciate that, Brian — thanks for the context.

Hey, thanks. Great to hear from you, Varun and Brian. We discussed the competitive landscape last quarter, and clearly it remains a fairly challenging environment out there. Could you speak to how you folks are holding up, what you're observing from competitors, and how you're managing to capitalize in this harder backdrop — and you've now had a couple of quarters of ongoing share gains here. Maybe just point to where that's coming from beyond the top-line channel figures, purchase and refi. Is there anything specific beneath the surface you believe is fueling it? Which factor matters more—the recapture gains, the push behind Rocket Pro, or both—and should we expect that trend to hold through the quarter so far?

Jeff, I really appreciate the question. This is a fantastic subject. The truth is that the market is putting every lender to the test right now, and that cuts both ways. On the plus side, if your business model is solid, it will show. On the downside, if there's a weakness in your business model, it will be laid bare. If we consider what's needed to truly succeed in the current landscape, a few factors stand out. First, having a brand is essential—one that represents something meaningful and draws customers to you on its own. Second, you need to connect with purchasers prior to their search for a mortgage, along with solid intent indicators and strong models. The third point—and this may be really important—is that origination, servicing, and recapture have to function jointly as one unit, as a system. Beyond that, you need technology under your own control, so you can innovate more quickly and at lower cost throughout that whole stack. And finally, you need capital to keep putting money in when those markets inevitably become tougher. That's quite a lot to require in order to survive and thrive, correct? My sense is that most lenders today possess just one component of this equation, right? Certain ones originate but lack servicing. Certain ones service yet have neither origination nor recapture. Certain ones own home search portals but don't have the mortgage transaction. My argument would be that not a single one of them is assembling everything into a platform powered by AI. To phrase that even more plainly, hoping isn't a strategy in a competitive market. When you set that beside Rocket, all those components start to become visible, correct? Through Redfin, 50 million monthly active users come straight into our funnel — homebuyers with high intent and high quality. We rank as the biggest lender and the biggest servicer. Our client base stands at 9.1 million. The technology is ours; it's extremely proprietary. We hold it end-to-end, and AI makes it still more impactful and productive. As Brian noted, we ended the quarter with liquidity at a record level. We're holding $11.4 billion, and our leverage ratio sits under 1x. To put it plainly, the market is pressing down on everybody, yet we won't all emerge from that in the same spot. Each quarter, we view these as the essential elements. We believe we're widening the gap between Rocket and our rivals.

Great. And just as a quick follow-up, perhaps directed at Brian. You brought up the better gain on sale margin we saw this quarter. You referenced home equity, with the mix rising and accounting for most of that. Could you perhaps discuss what you expect in the fourth quarter and beyond, as you consider that element within your revenue guidance, particularly given the softer volume in refi next quarter? Might that potentially turn the trend around if refi volume is lower next quarter? Thanks.

Thanks. I think, look, there are a couple of things. If I look at the margins we're currently printing at a channel level, they are quite close to the Q3 margins. The only other factor, Jeff, that you need to consider is mix shift, and as I mentioned, I do expect rate and term to likely be even smaller in Q4, and those second liens plus cash-out do carry higher margins, so that is something I see as a positive. I think another point worth making when you consider gain on sale margins is that historically, when rates have climbed and we've observed lenders perhaps attempting to leverage pricing to keep driving volume, you're not really seeing that anymore. Given the position that Varun mentioned some of our other competitors are in, that lever is no longer available to them. You might have seen a bit of that assisting gain on sale margins in the third quarter, and I could see some of that helping gain on sale margins remain stable in the fourth quarter.

Great. Thanks, Varun and Brian.

Thank you, and good afternoon. I was hoping we might go into a bit more detail on those market share gains you've been seeing, Brian. You brought up Rocket Local, but I'd just like us to speak more broadly — for instance, how DTC is performing on market share in both purchase and refi.

Thanks for asking, Doug. Look, I'd begin by noting that 3 years ago we laid out two ambitious targets: 8% purchase share, 20% refi share, and we're well on our way, right? On today's purchase side we're approaching 6.5%, refinance has hit 15.5%, and both are climbing steadily — we plan to accelerate that pace. It's worth pointing out that we're getting these results even though rates have climbed back above 7%. I want to highlight several of the biggest factors behind these improvements, and I'll list four. First, I'd point to recapture. In essence, whenever our servicing customers require their next mortgage, we're the first option they encounter; it's encouraging that recapture throughout the combined portfolio sits at all-time highs. Second is Redfin. Redfin serves as the gateway to Rocket, correct? Purchase-mortgage click starts have risen 50% compared with a year earlier, and another neat point is that refinance leads have grown by more than two times. Redfin genuinely acts as a strong amplifier serving as Rocket’s entry point. Point three, which Brian mentioned, concerns home equity. This offering fits the current market exceptionally well. We now rank as the country’s biggest home equity lender, and for two-thirds of those customers Rocket already handles the first mortgage. Finally, the remaining item you inquired about relates to our distribution and our ecosystem. Rocket Local is how we bring loan officers together with agents and buyers in their own communities. That's our approach to a highly fragmented purchase market—we concentrate on one relationship at a time. Volume in that channel was up more than 30% compared with a year earlier. And then there's Redfin and Compass, which have been key ingredients behind more than 20% of our purchase closings. Brian also touched on our broker partners: over 200 brokers have now activated with Rocket, which works out to almost $12 billion in potential annualized volume. Four straight quarters of margin expansion, gaining share—more share—and improved economics: that's the combination we're aiming for.

Thanks for that. Just as a quick follow-up, could you share how you're feeling about continuing to expand Rocket Local?