Just weeks after planting a flag in the residential real estate space with its acquisition of Redfin, Rocket has announced that it is buying a top competitor in the mortgage space — Mr. Cooper.
The $9.4 billion, all-stock transaction, “brings together the homeownership experience at scale,” the company said in a statement, calling out its vision of an AI-powered platform that removes “the friction and complexities plaguing today’s homebuying process.”
It’s a vision that calls to mind Zillow’s efforts to create a “super app” bundles homebuying services into an end-to-end experience. The Mr. Cooper deal increases Rocket’s competitive threat to the nation’s most popular home-search portal, which has increasingly seen its super app efforts fuel growth in its mortgage business, Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman told Real Estate News in February.
Just how big is the Mr. Cooper deal? The Mr. Cooper acquisition gives Rocket “a combined servicing book of $2.1 trillion across nearly 10 million clients, representing one in every six mortgages in America,” Rocket’s statement said. “Ultimately this drives higher loan volume and long-term client relationships — while providing great recurring revenue and lowering client acquisition costs.”
What Rocket’s CEO had to say: “”Servicing is a critical pillar of homeownership – alongside home search and mortgage origination. With the right data and AI infrastructure we will deliver the right products at the right time. That’s how we build lifelong relationships, by proactively unlocking benefits and meeting needs before they arise. We look forward to welcoming Mr. Cooper’s nearly 7 million clients.”
What industry observers are saying: Bruce Gehrke, a senior director of lending intelligence for J.D. Power, told Real Estate News that the “super app” concept could change real estate — and more.
“If Zillow and Rocket get some success with this kind of super app concept, it will build within itself,” Gehrke said. “We’ve seen technology turn around a lot of other interactions, services and products, disrupting things that people didn’t think was possible.”
