The percentage of refinances climbed to 38 percent of total loans as interest rates dipped to 4.21 percent, the lowest rate in 2017, according to the September Origination Insight Report from Ellie Mae® (NYSE:ELLI), the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry. Time to close a refinance also dropped to 40 days, the shortest time to close a refinance since February 2015.
“The increase in refinances was most likely due to interest rates on closed loans dipping to 4.21 percent, the low for 2017,” said Jonathan Corr, president and CEO of Ellie Mae. “Additionally, time to close a refinance dropped to 40 days as more lenders leverage technology to close loans faster.”
Other statistics of note in September included:
- The percentage breakdown of all closed loans shifted slightly as conventional loans rose to 66 percent, FHA loans shrank to 20 percent and VA loans held steady at 10 percent.
- The average FICO score on all closed loans remained steady at 724 in September, as did FHA refinance FICO scores at 649. FHA purchase FICO scores dropped one point to 682. Conventional refinance FICO scores rose one point to 731 and conventional purchase FICO scores held at 752. VA refinance FICO scores dropped a point to 701 and VA purchase FICO scores also dropped a point to 709.
- Closing time for all loans increased to 43 days in September, up from 42 days the month prior.
- The percentage of ARMs dipped to 5.5 percent, down from 5.7 percent in August.
The Origination Insight Report mines data from a robust sampling of approximately 80 percent of all mortgage applications that were initiated on the Encompass® all-in-one mortgage management solution. Ellie Mae believes the Origination Insight Report is a strong proxy of the underwriting standards employed by lenders across the country.
In addition to the Origination Insight Report, Ellie Mae also distributes data from its monthly Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker on the first Wednesday of each month. The Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker focuses on mortgage applications submitted by borrowers born between the years 1980 and 1999.
MONTHLY ORIGINATION OVERVIEW FOR SEPTEMBER 2017 | ||||||||
| Sep. 2017* | Aug. 2017* | 6 Months | 1 Year Ago | |||||
| Closed Loans | ||||||||
| Purpose | ||||||||
| Refinance | 38% | 35% | 37% | 45% | ||||
| Purchase | 62% | 65% | 63% | 54% | ||||
| Type | ||||||||
| FHA | 20% | 22% | 23% | 20% | ||||
| Conventional | 66% | 64% | 63% | 68% | ||||
| VA | 10% | 10% | 10% | 9% | ||||
| Days to Close | ||||||||
| All | 43 | 42 | 43 | 48 | ||||
| Refinance | 40 | 41 | 43 | 50 | ||||
| Purchase | 44 | 43 | 43 | 47 | ||||
| Percentage of ARM and Fixed Loan Volume | ||||||||
| ARM % | 5.5% | 5.7% | 5.6% | 4.0% | ||||
| 30-Year Rate | ||||||||
| Average | 4.21% | 4.27% | 4.39% | 3.75% | ||||
*All references to months should be read as month ended.
PROFILES OF CLOSED LOANS FOR SEPTEMBER 2017 | ||
| Closed First-Lien Loans (All Types) | ||
| FICO Score (FICO) | 724 | |
| Loan-to-Value (LTV) | 79 | |
| Debt-to-Income (DTI) | 25/39 | |
More information and analysis of closed and denied loans by loan purpose and investor are available in the full report at http://www.elliemae.com/about-us/news-reports/ellie-mae-reports/.
To get a meaningful view of lender pull-through, Ellie Mae reviewed a sampling of loan applications initiated 90 days prior—or the June 2017 applications—to calculate an overall closing rate of 71.6 percent in September 2017 (see full report).
About the Ellie Mae Origination Insight Report
The Origination Insight Report focuses on loans that closed in a specific month and compares their characteristics to similar loans that closed three and six months earlier. The closing rate is calculated on a 90-day cycle rather than on a monthly basis because most loan applications typically take one-and-a-half to two months from application to closing. Loans that do not close could still be active applications or applications withdrawn by consumers or denied for incompleteness or non-qualification.
The Origination Insight Report details aggregated anonymized data pulled from Ellie Mae’s Encompass origination platform.
News organizations have the right to reuse this data, provided that Ellie Mae, Inc. is credited as the source.
About Ellie Mae
Ellie Mae (NYSE:ELLI) is the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry. Ellie Mae’s technology solutions enable lenders to originate more loans, reduce origination costs, and reduce the time to close, all while ensuring the highest levels of compliance, quality and efficiency. Visit EllieMae.com or call (877) 355-4362 to learn more.
© 2017 Ellie Mae, Inc. Ellie Mae®, Encompass®, AllRegs®, the Ellie Mae logo and other trademarks or service marks of Ellie Mae, Inc. appearing herein are the property of Ellie Mae, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Other company and product names may be trademarks or copyrights of their respective owners.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171018005324/en/
Contacts:
Erica Harvill, 925-227-5913
Erica.Harvill@elliemae.com
or
Allison+Partners
Alexandra
Gardell Kreuter, 646-428-0618
EllieMae@allisonpr.com
