A new study by LendingTree [1]found that nearly 75% of mortgage refinance applications are approved nationally and Utah has the highest approval rate in the nation at 82.4%.
Utah also comes in at No. 8 in home-price appreciation and No. 19 the average consumer credit scores.
Home values between 2012-2018 have increased 39% and the average consumer credit score is 713.
Following Utah was North Dakota with an approval rate of 80.5% and South Dakota at 80.1%. LendingTree reports New Mexico had the lowest approval rate at 66.5%, which is followed by Florida at 68.2%.
North Dakota led the nation in home-price appreciation from 2012-2018 at 60%. Colorado was a close second at 58% and Nevada saw home prices grow at 56%.
Connecticut was the only nation that saw declines in price appreciation at -3%. New Jersey had the second-lowest appreciation at 2% and Rhode Island and Delaware both had appreciation rates at 6%.
Washington D.C. was found to have the highest average loan amount at $419,634. Indiana had the lowest average loan amount at $144,967.
LendingTree states that mortgage interest rates fell more than 1% since November 2018 when they reached a seven-year high. The most recent average rate of 3.75 is lower than 77% of the rates that were available in the market over the last decade.
“The availability of a lower interest rate is only one of the conditions needed to refinance a mortgage,” said Tendayi Kapfidze, LendingTree’s Chief Economist who led the study. “Borrowers often need to have some equity in their home, especially if they want to take cash out, and a solid credit score. Fortunately, increases in home prices since 2012, combined with paying down their loan balances, means many borrowers have built considerable equity in their homes.”
Ellie Mae reported [2]last month that the share of refinances accounted for 51% of all closed loans in October—the highest share of refinances since March 2015.
Purchases accounted for 49% of total closed loans, which is a 2% decline from September. This occurred during the same time mortgage rates rose, as the 30-year mortgage rate increased to 3.94% for all closed loans—up from 3.93% in September.