HousingWireHousingWire
Real estate investment trust Chimera Investment Corp. has entered into an agreement to acquire HomeXpress Mortgage Corp., adding a mortgage origination platform to its portfolio. The sellers include affiliates of Seer Capital Management’s credit fund business.
National lender HomeXpress specializes in nonqualified mortgages (non-QMs), business-purpose loans for real estate investors and other nonagency mortgage products.
The company, which works in the wholesale and correspondent channels, funded $2.5 billion in unpaid principal balance in 2024 and $1.2 billion from January through May 2025. It expects to reach $3.5 billion in volume by the end of this year.
Chimera, which focuses on loan management and advisory services, sees the acquisition as an opportunity to create cross-selling potential, facilitate direct loan acquisition and securitization, and bolster efforts to grow a mortgage servicing rights (MSR) portfolio. The transaction will also provide Chimera with origination fees and gain-on-sale income.
The deal will be executed by Chimera’s subsidiary, Chimera Funding TRS, which will pay HomeXpress its adjusted book value plus a premium consisting of $120 million in cash and approximately 2.08 million shares of Chimera common stock. The companies expect the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The transaction brings together Chimera “loan securitization, structured finance, and third-party loan management and advisory services with HomeXpress’ loan origination platform,” said Phillip J. Kardis II, president and CEO of Chimera.
“We expect this acquisition to be accretive to Chimera’s earnings in 2026,” Kardis said in a statement.
HomeXpress currently has 300 employees and is licensed in 46 states and Washington, D.C. The lender, which has been originating loans for nine years, has reported profitability each year since its founding. In 2024, it posted a pretax net income of $47 million.
Santa Ana, California-based HomeXpress will operate as a subsidiary of Chimera, with president and CEO Kyle Walker remaining in his role.
“HomeXpress, with its reliable service-first philosophy, combined with its strong partnerships with brokers and loan officers nationwide, will now be even more well-positioned to expand its product offerings and strategically grow the HomeXpress presence,” Walker said in a statement.
