Summer Mortgage Origination Insights

Ellie Mae, a cloud-based loan origination platform provider for the mortgage industry and now part of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., has just released its Origination Insight Report for the month of August. Data showed that refinances experienced a rebound during the month, the majority of closed loans in August rounding out at 56%. This is a slight uptick from the previous month of July’s 54%.

As for the percentage of purchases, that conversely fell (down to 44%) during the month of August. This dip was only a slight one, down from July’s 46%. All of this Ellie Mae information arrives as the 30-year rate on all loans steadily fell to its lowest rate (3.09%) since the respected institution for began tracking the data. July’s 30-year loan rate was a bit higher (3.24%).

Regarding the 30-year note rate, VA loans experienced a slight dip during August, falling to 2.86% (down from July’s 3.02%). As for conventional loans, their 30-year note rate dipped down to 3.12% in August (from July’s 3.26% rate). Also falling was the 30-year rate on FHA loans, which ducked down to 3.10% during the month of August. The 30-year rate on FHA loans during July was slightly higher at 3.26%.

Other highlights from the Ellie Mae findings included facts such as the time window for closing all loans, which increased to 49 days during August. This showed a slight uptick from July’s 47-day time window for closing. For the closing of purchase loans specifically, that time window increasing to 45 days during August (up from July’s window of 44 days). As for the time window for closing refinances, that increased to 51 days in August, up only one day from July’s 50-day window for closing.

Further noteworthy findings were that FICO scores rose to all-time highs for this year thus far (up to 752 for all loans in August, while July’s reported scores were 750), and closing rates experienced a slight uptick to 77.2%. July’s closing rates were 77.1%.