The percentage of closed purchase loans continued to increase, rising four percentage points to 70 percent, according to the most recent Origination Insight Report from Ellie Mae® (NYSE:ELLI), the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry. This is the highest percentage of purchase loans recorded since Ellie Mae began tracking data in 2011.

In May, the 30-year interest rate continued to rise to a new high at 4.84 percent, up from 4.79 percent the month prior. The percentage of Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) held at 6.6 percent for the second month, the highest since June 2014.

“The start to the summer home buying season is in full swing and while inventories remain tight, we’re seeing an increasing percentage of purchase loans,” said Jonathan Corr, president and CEO of Ellie Mae. “Even with the shift to a strong purchase market, closing times have remained steady, hovering around 41 days, and closing rates have increased slightly to just over 70 percent as more lenders take advantage of digital mortgage solutions to drive efficiencies and improve consumer experience.”

Other statistics of note in May included:

  • The percentage of refinances decreased across the board with FHA refinances dropping from 22 percent in April to 20 percent in May. Conventional refinances dropped from 38 percent in April to 34 percent in May. VA Refinances dropped from 27 percent in April to 25 percent in May.
  • The time to close all loans held steady across the board with time to close all loans at 41 days for the third month.
  • Overall FICO scores increased slightly for the fourth consecutive month to 724. LTV remained at 79 and DTI remained at 26/39.

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 MAY 2018

    May 2018*   Apr. 2018*   6 Months Ago

(Nov. 2017*)

   1 Year Ago

(May 2017*)

Closed Loans
Purpose
Refinance   30%   34%   39%   32%
Purchase   70%   66%   61%   68%
Type
FHA   20%   20%   20%   23%
Conventional   66%   66%   66%   63%
VA   10%   9%   10%   10%
Days to Close
All   41   41   43   42
Refinance   37   37   40   41
Purchase   43   42   45   42
Percentage of ARM and Fixed Loan Volume
ARM %   6.6%   6.6%   5.6%   6.1%
30-Year Rate
Average   4.840%   4.790%   4.240%   4.330%

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

 

PROFILES OF CLOSED LOANS FOR MAY 2018

    Closed First-Lien Loans
(All Types)
FICO Score (FICO)   724
Loan-to-Value (LTV)   79
Debt-to-Income (DTI)   26/39
 

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 February 2018 applications—to calculate an overall closing rate of 70.2 percent in May 2018 (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, 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.

© 2018 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.