LOANS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

SEC Schedule, 12-29, Real Estate Companies, Investment in Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Abstract]

LOANS

6. LOANS

The Company invests in residential loans. Loans are classified as either held for investment or held for sale. Loans are eligible to be accounted for under the fair value option. If loans are elected under the fair value option, they are carried at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in earnings. Otherwise, loans held for investment are carried at cost less impairment and loans held for sale are accounted for at the lower of cost or fair value.

Excluding loans transferred or pledged to securitization vehicles and loan warehouse facilities, as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company reported $1.8 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively, of loans for which the fair value option was elected. If the Company intends to sell or securitize the loans and the securitization vehicle is not expected to be consolidated, the loans are classified as held for sale. If loans are held for sale and the fair value option was not elected, they are accounted for at the lower of cost or fair value. Any origination fees and costs or purchase premiums or discounts are deferred and recognized upon sale. The Company determines the fair value of loans held for sale on an individual loan basis. The carrying value of the Company’s residential loans held for sale was $1.3 million and $2.3 million at December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Allowance for Losses – Prior to the sale of its corporate debt and commercial loan portfolios, the Company evaluated the need for a loss reserve on each of its loans classified as held-for investment and carried at amortized cost based upon estimated current expected credit losses.

The Company recorded net loan loss (provisions) reversals of $20.7 million, $145.1 million and ($147.6) million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company’s loan loss allowance was $0 and $27.9 million, respectively.

The following table presents the activity of the Company’s loan investments, excluding loans transferred or pledged to securitization vehicles and loan warehouse facilities, for the year ended December 31, 2022:

	Residential		Corporate Debt		Total
	(dollars in thousands)
Beginning balance January 1, 2022	$	2,272,072	$	1,968,991	$	4,241,063
Purchases / originations	5,983,775		185,269		6,169,044
Sales and transfers (1)	(6,106,109)		(1,902,444)		(8,008,553)
Principal payments	(111,589)		(231,190)		(342,779)
Gains / (losses) (2)	(220,130)		(23,320)		(243,450)
(Amortization) / accretion	(8,187)		2,694		(5,493)
Ending balance December 31, 2022	$	1,809,832	$	—	$	1,809,832
(1) Includes securitizations, syndications, transfers to securitization vehicles and corporate debt transfers to assets of disposal group held for sale and other assets. Includes transfer of residential loans to securitization vehicles with a carrying value of $6.1 billion during the year ended December 31, 2022.  (2) Includes loan loss allowances.

Residential

The Company’s residential mortgage loans are primarily comprised of performing adjustable-rate and fixed-rate whole loans. The Company’s residential loans are accounted for under the fair value option with changes in fair value reflected in Net gains (losses) on investments and other in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss). The Company also consolidates securitization trusts in which it had purchased subordinated securities because it also has certain powers and rights to direct the activities of such trusts. Refer to the “Variable Interest Entities” Note for further information related to the Company’s consolidated residential mortgage loan trusts.

The mortgage loans are secured by first liens on primarily one-to-four family residential properties. A subsidiary of the Company has engaged a third party to act as its custodian, agent and bailee for the purposes of receiving and holding certain documents, instruments and papers related to the residential mortgage loans it purchases. Pursuant to the Company’s custodial agreement, the custodian segregates and maintains continuous custody of all documents constituting the mortgage file with respect to each mortgage loan owned by the subsidiary in secure and fire resistant facilities and in a manner consistent with the standard of care employed by prudent mortgage loan document custodians. At or prior to the funding of any residential mortgage loan, the related seller, pursuant to the terms of our mortgage loan purchase agreement, must deliver to the custodian, the mortgage loan documents including the mortgage note, the mortgage and other related loan documents. In addition, a complete credit file for the related mortgage and borrower must be delivered to the subsidiary prior to the date of purchase.

The following table presents the fair value and the unpaid principal balances of the residential mortgage loan portfolio, including loans transferred or pledged to securitization vehicles and excluding loan warehouse facilities, at December 31, 2022 and 2021:

	December 31, 2022		December 31, 2021
	(dollars in thousands)
Fair value	$	10,931,744	$	7,768,507
Unpaid principal balance	$	12,247,346	$	7,535,855

The following table provides information regarding the line items and amounts recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) for December 31, 2022 and 2021 for these investments, excluding loan warehouse facilities:

	For the Years Ended
	December 31, 2022		December 31, 2021
	(dollars in thousands)
Interest income	$	410,195	$	182,325
Net gains (losses) on disposal of investments (1)	(12,842)		(37,212)
Net unrealized gains (losses) on instruments measured at fair value through earnings (1)	(1,420,645)		19,545
Total included in net income (loss)	$	(1,023,292)	$	164,658
(1) These amounts are presented in the line item Net gains (losses) on investments and other on the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (loss).

The following table provides the geographic concentrations based on the unpaid principal balances at December 31, 2022 and 2021 for the residential mortgage loans, including loans transferred or pledged to securitization vehicles: 

Geographic Concentrations of Residential Mortgage Loans
December 31, 2022		December 31, 2021
Property location	% of Balance	Property location	% of Balance
California	44.8%	California	50.2%
New York	10.3%	New York	10.9%
Florida	8.3%	Florida	6.1%
Texas	5.1%	All other (none individually greater than 5%)	32.8%
All other (none individually greater than 5%)	31.5%
Total	100.0%		100.0%

The following table provides additional data on the Company’s residential mortgage loans, including loans transferred or pledged to securitization vehicles, at December 31, 2022 and 2021:

	December 31, 2022		December 31, 2021
	Portfolio Range	Portfolio Weighted Average	Portfolio Range	Portfolio Weighted Average
	(dollars in thousands)
Unpaid principal balance	$3 - $4,396	$489	$1 - $4,382	$513
Interest rate	2.00% - 15.00%	4.61%	0.75% - 9.24%	4.04%
Maturity	7/1/2029 - 1/1/2063	10/6/2051	7/1/2029 - 12/1/2061	12/22/2050
FICO score at loan origination	588 - 831	759	604 - 831	762
Loan-to-value ratio at loan origination	5% - 100%	68%	8% - 103%	66%

At December 31, 2022 and 2021, approximately 11% and 16%, respectively, of the carrying value of the Company’s residential mortgage loans, including loans transferred or pledged to securitization vehicles, were adjustable-rate.

The Company participates in an arrangement that provides a residential mortgage loan warehouse facility to a third-party originator. The Company has elected to apply the fair value option to this lending facility in order to simplify the accounting and keep the accounting consistent with other residential credit financial instruments with similar characteristics. At December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the fair value and carrying value of this warehouse facility was approximately $0.0 million and $1.0 million, respectively, and reported as Loans, net in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition. As of December 31, 2022, the lending facility was not on nonaccrual status nor past due.

Commercial

As of December 31, 2021, commercial real estate loans were reported in Assets of disposal group held for sale in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition and classified as held for sale. Refer to the “Sale of Commercial Real Estate Business” Note for additional information on the transaction.

Corporate Debt

In April 2022, the Company entered into a definitive agreement to sell substantially all of the corporate loan interests held by the MML business operated by the Company, as well as assets managed for third parties (collectively, the “MML Portfolio”), to Ares Capital Management LLC (“Ares”). The vast majority of these assets were legally transferred to Ares at the end of the third quarter and the remaining assets were transferred by the end of the fourth quarter of 2022. Refer to the “Sale of Middle Market Lending Portfolio” Note for additional information on the transaction.