All things considered, the fourth quarter of 2014 was a better month for the mortgage market than the final quarter of 2013.

The county saw a 6 percent increase in the number of mortgages in the fourth quarter – 2,037, up from 1,922 during the year-ago period.

Between October and December, total mortgage volume rose 7 percent to almost $344 million, up from almost $321 million in the same period in 2013. And the average mortgage amount in the fourth quarter was $168,649, up 1.2 percent from the $166,581 during the fourth quarter of 2013.

Top lenders during the quarter included Community Mortgage Corp., with a total volume of a little more than $25 million. Magna Bank had a total volume of a little more than $24 million, while Iberiabank saw a total volume of a little more than $23 million.

December saw an improvement as far as mortgages go compared to the same month in 2013.

Total mortgage volume rose to almost $127 million in December 2014 from a little more than $94 million a year ago. And there were 781 mortgages made in December 2014, up 33 percent from the 587 mortgagesin December 2013.

The average mortgage amount was $164,699, up from $160,137 in December 2013.

Top lenders by volume in December 2014 were Community Mortgage Corp. with $10.6 million; Iberiabank with $10.5 million; Magna Bank with $7.6 million; BancorpSouth with $5.7 million and Mortgage Investors Group with a little more than $4 million.

Chandler Reports is a division of The Daily News Publishing Co. Inc.