Better Home & Finance Holding Co. on Wednesday reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2024. The earnings release touted growth compared to 2023 and detailed the company’s plans of “diversifying Better’s offering, and leveraging Tinman to power local loan officers” through a new program.
Better shared an update on the NEO Powered by Better program, which included the onboarding of 110 NEO Home Loans originators across 53 branches.
“Since beginning production in January 2025, ‘NEO Powered by Better’ has served a total of approximately 220 families equating to approximately $95 million of funded loan volume,” the company’s announcement explained. It noted that the average gain-on-sale margin for these loans thus far is about 365 basis points, compared to Better’s gain-on-sale margin of 217 bps across all originations in 2024.
Better CEO and founder Vishal Garg expressed confidence about the company’s growing AI-fueled plans.
“We are pleased with the growth we achieved in 2024 through a challenged environment and the early traction our AI and ‘NEO Powered by Better’ initiatives are seeing. Our team delivered growth and continued improvements toward profitability despite another year of continued macro headwinds,” he said.
Garg also said during the company’s earnings call that by the end of 2025, Better expects its AI voice assistant, Betsy, to be capable of completing most functions currently done by a loan officer. This will free up LOs for customer care and resolution tasks.
For the full year of 2024, Better saw an increase in GAAP revenue to $108 million, compared to $72 million in 2023. The company’s net loss shrank from $536 million to $206 million during the year.
Non-GAAP financial measures included an adjusted EBITDA loss of $121 million, compared to a loss of $163 million in 2023.
“We believe we are moving in the right direction from a profitability perspective, with the improvements in adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter of 2024,” said Kevin Ryan, Better’s chief financial officer.
“Looking forward, while we remain hopeful for an improved rate environment, there remains a great deal of uncertainty, and our operational plan includes limited rate relief in 2025. As such, we remain focused on driving operating leverage through continued investments in efficiency, corporate cost management, and diversifying our distribution channels.”
In 2024, Better produced a funded loan volume of approximately $3.6 billion, compared to $3 billion in 2023. It originated about 11,800 loans, up from 8,600 in 2023.
Of its total funded loan volume, approximately 74% (or $2.7 billion) was tied to purchase loans. Its home equity line of credit (HELOC) volume was $479 million for the year and its refinance volume was $463 million.
In Q4 2024, Better had less revenue and produced fewer loans compared to the previous quarter, but the numbers were still up year over year.
Its revenue was $25 million in Q4 2024, slipping from $29 million in Q3 2024 but up from $18 million in Q4 2023. The company funded about 3,300 loans from October through December, compared to 1,600 in Q4 2023 and 3,400 in Q3 2024.
Its total funded loan volume for the fourth quarter was $936 million, compared to $531 million in the final quarter of 2023 and $1 billion in the third quarter of 2024.
But its net loss also rose in Q4 2024 to $59 million, compared to $51 million in Q4 2023 and $54 million in Q3 2024.
In breaking down its funded loan volume in the fourth quarter, $591 million (63%) was purchase loans, $172 million (18%) were home equity products, and $174 million (19%) was refis.
But all three product channels saw annual growth as purchase business was up 25%, refinances soared 611% and home equity products (which include HELOCs and closed-end second-lien loans) saw 416% year-over-year growth.
In Q4 2024, total expenses remained relatively flat quarter over quarter. Included in these expenses were approximately $17 million of non-recurring restructuring costs attributed primarily to the wind-down of Better’s U.K. businesses. The company also spent about $4 million on the termination of some facility leases.
Excluding the restructuring expenses, the company said that total expenses decreased 24% compared to the third quarter.
