BETR: Better Home & Finance Stock Sinks 93% in Debut as Investors Snub Mortgage Lenders

Better CEO was betting on growth from lowering interest rates. But then the public listing had other plans. Also, lowering interest rates? Where?

• A super painful first day of trading hit the new kid in stock town. Better Home & Finance, an hapless online mortgage lender, went public on Thursday via a SPAC merger with Aurora Acquisition. Better stock BBETR was immediately knocked to the ground, closing 93% lower at $1.15 from an opening of $17.44 a share.
• What better moment to list a mortgage company than a time when the average mortgage rate is at 7..23%, the highest since 2001. Mortgage purchase filings add to the grim picture, sitting at a low last seen in 1995. In that context, there is not much demand for Better’s products, helping explain the stock carnage.
• Quick background check: the merger was first agreed in 2021 with the backing of, guess who, lossmaking SoftBank. The deal was delayed and Better laid off 900 workers over a Zoom call, then apologized, then trimmed headcount a few more times. Better CEO Vishal Garg is convinced growth will come as “interest rates come back down.”