“Midwest is Best” for Millennial Homebuyers According to Latest Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker

Millennial homebuyers continued to favor Midwestern states where prices remain comparatively more affordable, the latest Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker™ found. Purchase loans increased for the fourth consecutive month to 88 percent of Millennial closed loans in March, compared to 12 percent of refinance loans in the month. Ellie Mae® (NYSE:ELLI) is a leading provider of innovative on-demand software solutions and services for the residential mortgage industry.

Mount Vernon, Ill. was the most popular metropolitan area for homes purchased by Millennial buyers. Other popular Midwestern cities for Millennials included Hutchinson, Kan., New Philadelphia-Dover, Ohio, Defiance, Ohio, Dickinson, N.D., Owosso, Mich. and Ashland, Ohio.

“What this data shows is where there is an inventory of affordable homes, the Millennial buyers are ready to enter the market,” said Joe Tyrrell, executive vice president of corporate strategy for Ellie Mae. “We expect to see this trend continue as average FICO scores decline and affordable loan options become more available to Millennial homebuyers.”

Additional findings from the March Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker include:

• Consistent with prior months, slightly more than half of the Millennial borrowers who purchased a home in March were married (51 percent) compared to slightly less than half (49 percent) who were single.
• Also, similar to previous months, the average age of a homebuyer was 29.5 years old, and men were much more likely to be listed as the primary borrower (65 percent) than women (32 percent).
• The average FICO score for Millennial borrowers was 720, down from 723 the month prior, and 724 in January.
• Millennials opted to take out conventional loans (60 percent) more than FHA (36 percent), VA (2 percent) or unspecified financing options (2 percent) to purchase a home.
• The average loan amount for purchases was $181,154, down from February’s annual high of $185,566.

Time to close all loans for Millennial borrowers continued to decrease in March to 43 days, down from 44 days in February. Average time to close a purchase for Millennials decreased from 42 days in February to 41 days in March, while time to close a refinance also decreased to 49 days in March, down from 52 days the month prior. Similarly, the average time to close FHA loans decreased from 43 days in February to 42 days in March. Alternatively, time to close VA loans increased to 51 days, after last month’s significant 17 day decrease from 57 to 41 days.

The Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker is an interactive online tool that provides access to up-to-date demographic data about this new generation of homebuyers. It mines data from a robust sampling of approximately 75 percent of all closed mortgages dating back to 2014 that were initiated on Ellie Mae’s Encompass® all-in-one mortgage management solution. Given the size of this sample and Ellie Mae’s market share, it is a strong proxy of millennial mortgage indicators across the country. Searches can be tailored by borrower geography, age, gender, marital status, FICO score and amortization type.

For more information, visit http://elliemae.com/millennial-tracker

ABOUT THE ELLIE MAE MILLENNIAL TRACKER

The Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker focuses on millennial mortgage applications during specific time periods. Ellie Mae defines Millennials as applicants born between the years 1980 and 1999. New data is updated on the first Monday of every month for two months prior.

The Millennial Tracker is a subset of our Origination Insight Report, which details aggregated, anonymized data pulled from Ellie Mae’s Encompass origination platform. Additional information regarding the Origination Insight Report can be found at http://elliemae.com/resources/origination-insight-reports. 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 a leading provider of innovative on-demand software solutions and services for the residential mortgage industry. Mortgage lenders of all sizes use Ellie Mae’s Encompass® all-in-one mortgage management solution, Mavent Compliance Service, and AllRegs research, reference and education resources to improve compliance, loan quality and efficiency across the entire mortgage lifecycle. 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.

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