According to the February Origination Insight Report from Ellie Mae® (NYSE:ELLI), the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry, the 30-year note rate continued to drop for the second straight month to 4.86 percent, down from 5.01 percent in January. This was coupled with the time to close decreasing across all loan types by two days or more.
“Purchase percentages have increased following both the holiday season and the 30-year note rate decline,” said Jonathan Corr, president and CEO of Ellie Mae. “We expect this increase to continue as we enter the busier spring buying season.”
Other statistics of note in February included:
- The percentage of purchases ticked back up to 66 percent, up from 65 percent the month prior. Refinances made up 34 percent of all closed loans.
- The percentage of Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) decreased to 7.6 percent in February, down from 8.6 percent in January.
- Overall FICO scores increased two points to 726. LTV increased to 78 and DTI held at 25/39.
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 FEBRUARY 2019 | ||||||||||||
| Feb. 2019* | Jan. 2019* | 6 Months Ago | 1 Year Ago | |||||||||
| (Aug. 2018*) | (Feb. 2018*) | |||||||||||
Closed Loans | ||||||||||||
| Purpose | ||||||||||||
| Refinance | 34% | 35% | 32% | 43% | ||||||||
| Purchase | 66% | 65% | 68% | 57% | ||||||||
| Type | ||||||||||||
| FHA | 19% | 19% | 20% | 19% | ||||||||
| Conventional | 64% | 66% | 66% | 67% | ||||||||
| VA | 11% | 11% | 10% | 10% | ||||||||
| Days to Close | ||||||||||||
| All | 43 | 45 | 43 | 42 | ||||||||
| Refinance | 35 | 38 | 38 | 37 | ||||||||
| Purchase | 47 | 49 | 45 | 45 | ||||||||
| Percentage of ARM and Fixed Loan Volume | ||||||||||||
| ARM % | 7.6% | 8.6% | 6.6% | 5.5% | ||||||||
| 30-Year Rate | ||||||||||||
| Average | 4.86% | 5.010% | 4.920% | 4.480% | ||||||||
*All references to months should be read as month ended. | ||||||||||||
PROFILES OF CLOSED LOANS FOR FEBRUARY 2019 | |||
| Closed First-Lien Loans | |||
| (All Types) | |||
| FICO Score (FICO) | 726 | ||
| Loan-to-Value (LTV) | 78 | ||
| 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 November 2018 applications—to calculate an overall closing rate of 75.5 percent in February 2019 (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. 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, lower 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.
© 2019 Ellie Mae, Inc. Ellie Mae®, Encompass®, AllRegs®, Mavent®, Velocify®, 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: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005131/en/
Contacts:
Erica Harvill
Ellie Mae, Inc.
(925)
227-5913
Erica.Harvill@elliemae.com
