A new study found that residential loan officers at financial institutions saw a 17 percent increase in total compensation over the last year.

“In the past year, mortgage activity was up, in part from the first-time homebuyers’ tax credit and low prices prompting sales, but also in part from a significant uptick in mortgage refinancing,” said Timothy Reimink, a senior consultant in Crowe’s Performance group.

“Even though the tax credit expired, rates are still at historic lows, so it’s likely the mortgage activity will continue into the next year,” he said.

The data comes from the 29th edition of the Crowe Horwath 2010 Comprehensive Financial Institution Compensation Survey.

Using data compiled from 340 U.S. financial institutions, the survey found that while total compensation, which includes base salary and discretionary pay, for many positions decreased, median base salaries for officers increased slightly, at 2.4 percent, with non-officers seeing a similar increase of 2.2 percent.