Ellie Mae: What’s the Status of Originations?

On Thursday, Ellie Mae released its September Origination Insight Report—reporting that the percentage of refinances increased to 38 percent of total loans, while interest rates dropped to 4.21 percent, the lowest rate in 2017.

The report gathers data from a sampling of about 80 percent of all mortgage applications. According to the release, Ellie Mae believes the Origination Insight Report is a “strong proxy of the underwriting standards employed by lenders across the country.”

Jonathan Corr, President and CEO of Ellie Mae said the increase in refinances was most likely due to this dip in interest rates on closed loans.

“Additionally, time to close a refinance dropped to 40 days as more lenders leverage technology to close loans faster,” said Corr. The report notes that this represents the shortest time to close a refinance since February 2015.

Overall, the percentage breakdown of all closed loans shifted as conventional loans increased to 66 percent, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans decreased to 20 percent and VA loans held steady at 10 percent.

FICO scores on all closed loans remained steady at 724 in September, as did FHA refinance FICO scores at 649, according to Ellie Mae. FHA purchase FICO scores dropped to 682.

Conventional refinance FICO scores rose to 731 and conventional purchase FICO scores held at 752. VA refinance FICO scores dropped to 701 and VA purchase FICO scores also dropped to 709.

Closing time for all loans increased to 43 days in September, up from 42 days the month prior.

The percentage of ARMs dipped to 5.5 percent, down from 5.7 percent in August.

To view the full report, click here.