Mortgage banking firm Gantry closed a record number of mortgage transactions in 2020. The firm closed 411 total deals, the first time in the company's history that it closed more than 400 transactions in a single year. The deals totaled $3 billion.

Deal activity was especially strong in the fourth quarter, with more than 124 transactions closed totaling $1 billion. The quarter was also the strongest in the firm's 30-year history. "Our second and third quarters were not strong by historical standards because it was difficult to underwrite many properties that were impacted by COVID and too few lenders were willing to issue commitments. However, many of our correspondent lenders tried to make up ground in the fourth quarter because the capital was available to deploy at many of these organizations," Mike Heagerty, principal and chief financial officer at Gantry, tell GlobeSt.com. "They are well capitalized and often paired with investment partners who also need capital invested."

In addition, Heagerty says that investors favored to real estate for its stability during the pandemic, helping to drive investment activity and deal volume. "The investment decision-makers saw value relative to other investments in their portfolio so they moved quickly when the opportunities and underwriting started to stabilize in the fourth quarter," he says.