Mortgage lender Equitable Group Inc. today reported strong growth in earnings, assets and mortgage production for the third quarter ended September 30.

Net earnings grew 47% to $3.93 million from $2.67 million in the third quarter of 2003.

Diluted earnings per share increased 31% to 34¢ from 26¢ in the third quarter last year.

Conventional mortgage production increased to $261 million from $74 million in the same period of 2003.

Total assets expanded 37% to $1.45 billion from $1.06 billion at Sept. 30, 2003, and have increased 31% since year-end 2003.

Return on equity for the quarter was 15.4%

Also today, the company declared a dividend of 7¢ per share. This represents a 1¢ per share increase over the dividend declared in August.

Growth during the quarter, “was fueled by a disciplined approach to mortgage origination and assisted by a 25 basis point increase in the prime rate, which had a positive effect on our interest revenues,” said Geoffrey Bledin, president and CEO, in a release.

“Our primary focus on single family dwellings and multi-unit residential mortgage lending in the Greater Toronto Area is clearly supporting our growth requirements,” he added.

At Sept. 30, 2004, 40% of the company’s mortgage principal outstanding was in single family dwelling mortgages, 35.8% was in multi-unit residential mortgages and 18.7% was in commercial mortgages.