Metro Detroit may be a long way from the financial canyons of Wall Street, but the Motor City does appear to be growing past New York's financial powerhouses in at least one category — mortgage lending.

As of early 2019, Quicken Loans in Detroit and United Shore based in Pontiac rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation for their volumes of mortgage lending, according to industry data reported by the Inside Mortgage Finance service. That outstripped giants in the field such as Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America.

Inside Mortgage Finance reports that for the first three months of 2019, Quicken originated $21.8 billion in mortgages and United Shore's United Wholesale Mortgage originated $17.56 billion in mortgages. That put the two lenders atop the national rankings.

Data reports in the industry can vary depending on how one measures various indications of loan volumes. But by any measure, Quicken and United Shore's United Wholesale have soared to prominence in the marketplace for mortgages.

How'd that happen? Both firms ranked as modest-sized lenders as recently as 10 years ago but grew rapidly in the past few years offering greater efficiencies and convenience.

Mat Ishbia, president and CEO of United Shore, which operates United Shore, said it may just be coincidence that both lenders are based in the same area, but that it's good for metro Detroit anyway.

"I think it’s just two great companies with a lot of great people in metro Detroit working hard and changing the industry in a positive way for consumers," Ishbia said. "We compete head to head, and at the same time both companies are quite successful by anybody’s measure."

The companies take a somewhat different approach to success. United Wholesale works with mortgage brokers, the agents who search out lenders and rates for their consumer clients. Quicken also lends through brokers but its main approach is direct-to-consumer lending without a broker involved, particularly with mortgage refinancings.

What each company has in common is a reliance on technology to gain efficiencies and a very rapid increase in personnel. To handle the rapid growth in lending, United Wholesale has hired more than 1,100 new "team members" in 2019, with the goal of hiring 900 more by the end of this year.

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Quicken, too, has grown its workforce dramatically. When founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert moved his headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010, he brought an initial 1,700 workers with him. Today, Quicken says it employs 17,000 staffers downtown.

Sometimes a geographic region becomes home to a certain industry for reasons easy to see. New York City, long the center of stock traders and financial innovation, is the natural home for the nation's economic exchanges. Major seaports become centers of trade and commerce.

Detroit became the center of automotive production in the early 1900s by a confluence of lucky breaks — the presence of marine engine mechanics who had worked on Great Lakes shipping including a young Henry Ford; a heritage of building carriages, rail cars and other wheeled vehicles and the craftsmen who had the skills needed, and proximity to petroleum fields in the Midwest that could fuel Detroit's new internal combustion engines.

But why mortgages in metro Detroit? That may remain a mystery, other than some talented individuals like Ishbia and Gilbert happened to live here when they saw the possibilities of new efficiencies in mortgage lending. That was especially true after the financial collapse of the Great Recession that left many more traditional lenders dealing with multiple problems.

Whatever the reason, metro Detroit may soon claim another nickname besides Motor City. How about the Mortgage City?

Contact John Gallagher:313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com.Follow him on Twitter@jgallagherfreep. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.