The percentage of refinances remained steady at 35 percent of total loans, despite a slight uptick in interest rates according to the August Origination Insight Report from Ellie Mae® (NYSE:ELLI), the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry. Additionally, overall closing rates climbed to 71.7 percent, the highest since January of 2017 and up from 70.6 percent in July.

“As the summer season drew to a close, refinances held steady at 35 percent of all closed loans coupled with a slight increase in interest rates to 4.27, up from the 2017 low of 4.25 in July,” said Jonathan Corr, president and CEO of Ellie Mae.

Other statistics of note in August included:

  • The percentage breakdown of all closed loans remained steady for the third consecutive month with conventional loans representing 64 percent of all closed loans, FHA loans representing 22 percent of all closed loans, and VA loans representing 10 percent of all closed loans.
  • While the average FICO score on all closed loans remained steady at 724 in August, average FICO scores for FHA refinances increased three points to 649. The average FICO score for conventional purchase loans decreased to 752 in August and FICO scores for VA refinances increased two points to 702, up from 700 in July.
  • Closing time for all loans fell to 42 days in August. Time to close a refinance decreased to 41 days, down from 42 days the month prior. Time to close a purchase loan remained at 43 days 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 AUGUST 2017

      Aug. 2017*     Jul. 2017*    

6 Months Ago

(Feb. 2017*)

     1 Year Ago

(Aug. 2016*)

Closed Loans
Purpose
Refinance     35%     35%     43%     43%
Purchase     65%     65%     57%     56%
Type
FHA     22%     22%     23%     20%
Conventional     64%     64%     63%     68%
VA     10%     10%     10%     9%
Days to Close
All     42     43     46     46
Refinance     41     42     47     46
Purchase     43     43     45     46
Percentage of ARM and Fixed Loan Volume
ARM %     5.7%     5.7%     5.3%     4.1%
30-Year Rate
Average     4.27%     4.25%     4.36%     3.77%
               

*All references to months should be read as month ended.

 

PROFILES OF CLOSED LOANS FOR AUGUST 2017

      Closed First-Lien Loans
(All Types)
FICO Score (FICO)     724
Loan-to-Value (LTV)     80
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 May 2017 applications—to calculate an overall closing rate of 71.7 percent in August 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.