Tree.com touts mortgage-related growth, but posts loss

Charlotte-based Tree.com was able to turn falling mortgage volume across the financial industry into a revenue boom in the third quarter, the parent company of loan-finding site LendingTree said Thursday.

The company reported earning $316,000 from its lead generation business in the quarter, up from $270,000 last year. Tree.com's discontinued operations, primarily a mortgage origination business it sold last year, pushed the company to a loss overall.

The company primarily makes money as a lead generation service. Customers use the site to shop for mortgage rates from a number of different banks. The banks pay Tree.com for the referrals they get from the site.

When mortgages are harder to come by, banks are willing to pay more for the leads. Revenue from mortgage leads jumped 73 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, the company said.

"Despite a significant drop in mortgage originations in the market overall, revenue from our mortgage products held steady and we gained considerable market share in our core business," CEO Doug Lebda said in a statement.

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