April Origination Insight Report From Ellie Mae Sees Purchase Percentage of Closed Loans Rise to Highest Levels since 2014

PLEASANTON, Calif.--()--The percentage of closed purchase loans continued to increase, rising four percentage points to 66 percent in April, according to the most recent Origination Insight Report from Ellie Mae® (NYSE:ELLI), the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry.

In April, the 30-year interest rates rose to the highest point since Ellie Mae began tracking data in 2011 at 4.79 percent, up from 4.69 percent in March and the 2018 low of 4.33 percent in January. The percentage of Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) increased from 6.3 percent in March to 6.6 percent in April, the highest since June 2014.

“This month we saw interest rates increase to the highest percentage point since Ellie Mae began reporting data in 2011, and with that, the percentage of purchases increased four percentage points to 66 percent of total closed loans,” said Jonathan Corr, president and CEO of Ellie Mae. “We’re entering the peak summer homebuying months and despite tight inventories, we expect to see a robust purchase market. We’re also seeing our lenders’ time to close purchases decrease month-over-month as they leverage our true digital mortgage solutions for better efficiency.”

Other statistics of note in April included:

  • The percentage of refinances once again decreased across the board with FHA refinances dropping from 23 percent in March to 22 percent in April. Conventional refinances dropped from 43 percent in March to 38 percent in April. VA Refinances dropped from 28 percent in March to 27 percent in April.
  • The time to close all loans held steady across the board with time to close all loans at 41 days for the second month. Time to close a conventional purchase dropped one day to 41 days in April.
  • Overall FICO scores increased slightly for the third consecutive month to 723. 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 APRIL 2018

      Apr. 2018*     Mar. 2018*    

6 Months Ago
(Oct. 2017*)

 

   

1 Year Ago
(Apr. 2017*)

 

Closed Loans
Purpose
Refinance     34%     38%     39%     35%
Purchase     66%     62%     61%     65%
Type
FHA     20%     20%     20%     23%
Conventional     66%     66%     66%     63%
VA     9%     10%     10%     10%
Days to Close
All     41     41     43     42
Refinance     37     37     40     41
Purchase     42     43     44     42
Percentage of ARM and Fixed Loan Volume
ARM %     6.6%     6.3%     5.5%     5.9%
30-Year Rate
Average     4.790%     4.690%     4.200%     4.410%
 

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

PROFILES OF CLOSED LOANS FOR APRIL 2018

      Closed First-Lien Loans
(All Types)
FICO Score (FICO)     723
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 January 2018 applications—to calculate an overall closing rate of 69.5 percent in April 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.

Contacts

Ellie Mae, Inc.
Erica Harvill, 925-227-5913
Erica.Harvill@elliemae.com
or
Allison+Partners
Alexandra Gardell Kreuter, 646-428-0618
EllieMae@allisonpr.com

Contacts

Ellie Mae, Inc.
Erica Harvill, 925-227-5913
Erica.Harvill@elliemae.com
or
Allison+Partners
Alexandra Gardell Kreuter, 646-428-0618
EllieMae@allisonpr.com