Residential Refinance Mortgage Originations Drop 21 Percent In Q3 2018

IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation's premier property database, today released its Q3 2018 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report, which shows that 681,455 refinance mortgages secured by residential property (1 to 4 units) were originated in the third quarter, down 15 percent from the previous quarter and down 21 percent from a year ago to the lowest level as far back as data is available — Q1 2000.

The refinance mortgages originated in Q3 2018 represented an estimated $175.1 billion in total dollar volume, down 14 percent from the previous quarter and down 21 percent from a year ago to the lowest level since Q1 2014 — a 4.5-year low.

Historical Residential Mortgage Originations Graphic

"Rising mortgage rates continued to dampen demand for mortgages in the third quarter, particularly refinance mortgages," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. "There were some notable exceptions to that trend, primarily in markets affected by the hurricanes in the third quarter of 2017."

Refinance originations increase in Houston, Miami, Tampa
Residential refinance mortgage originations decreased from a year ago in 197 of the 225 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report (88 percent), including Los Angeles (down 31 percent); New York (down 11 percent); Dallas-Fort Worth (down 5 percent); Phoenix (down 14 percent); and Atlanta (down 33 percent).

Counter to the national trend, residential refinance mortgage originations increased from a year ago in 28 of the 225 metro areas analyzed in the report (12 percent), including Houston (up 69 percent); Miami (up 29 percent); Tampa-St. Petersburg (up 33 percent); San Antonio (up 3 percent); and Orlando (up 30 percent).

Purchase mortgage originations down 2 percent from year ago
Lenders originated 892,760 residential purchase mortgages in Q3 2018, down 5 percent from the previous quarter and down 2 percent from a year ago.

Residential purchase mortgage originations decreased from a year ago in 121 of the 225 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report (54 percent), including New York (down 6 percent); Dallas-Fort Worth (down 5 percent); Chicago (down 14 percent); Phoenix (down 2 percent); and Los Angeles (down 14 percent).

Counter to the national trend, residential purchase mortgage originations increased from a year ago in 104 of the 225 metro areas analyzed in the report (46 percent), including Atlanta (up 12 percent); Houston (up 3 percent); Miami (up 2 percent); Tampa-St. Petersburg (up 3 percent); and Nashville (up 1 percent).

HELOC originations down 11 percent from year ago
A total of 313,744 Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) were originated on residential properties in Q3 2018, down 14 percent from the previous quarter and down 11 percent from a year ago.

Residential HELOC mortgage originations decreased from a year ago in 150 of the 225 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report (67 percent), including New York (down 14 percent); Los Angeles (down 18 percent); Seattle (down 3 percent); Chicago (down 27 percent); and Philadelphia (down 16 percent).

Counter to the national trend, residential HELOC mortgage originations increased from a year ago in 73 of the 225 metro areas analyzed in the report (32 percent), including Miami (up 4 percent); Tampa-St. Petersburg (up 22 percent); Kansas City (up 20 percent); Orlando (up 3 percent); and Omaha (up 11 percent).

Median down payment percentage at nearly 15-year high
The median down payment on single family homes and condos purchased with financing in Q3 2018 was $20,250, up 7 percent from the previous quarter and up 16 percent from a year ago to a record high as far back as data is available, Q1 2000.

The median down payment as a percentage of the median home sales price in Q3 2018 was 7.6 percent, up from 7.2 percent in the previous quarter and up from 6.8 percent in Q3 2017 to the highest since Q4 2003 — a nearly 15-year high.

Among 96 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report for down payments, those with the highest median down payment as a percentage of median home sales price in Q3 2018 were San Jose, California (24.7 percent); San Francisco, California (23.3 percent); Los Angeles, California (20.6 percent); Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California (19.0 percent); and Fort Collins, Colorado (18.6 percent).

Down Payments by Metro Q3 2018 Heat Map

FHA loan share increases from more than 10-year low in previous quarter
Residential loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) accounted for 10.5 percent of all residential property loans originated in Q3 2018, up from a more than 10-year low of 10.2 percent in the previous quarter but still down from 12.5 percent a year ago.

Residential loans backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) accounted for 5.5 percent of all residential property loans originated in Q3 2018, up from 5.4 percent in the previous quarter but still down from 6.6 percent a year ago.

Report methodology
The loan origination report is derived from publicly recorded mortgages and deeds of trust collected by ATTOM Data Solutions in more than 1,700 counties accounting for more than 87 percent of the U.S. population. Counts and dollar volumes for the two most recent quarters are projected based on available data at the time of the report.

For the report, ATTOM Data Solutions analyzed recorded mortgage and deed of trust data for single family homes, condos, town homes and multi-family properties of two to four units for this report. Each recorded mortgage or deed of trust was counted as a separate loan origination. Dollar volume was calculated by multiplying the total number of loan originations by the average loan amount for those loan originations. Origination counts and dollar volumes are projected for the most recent two quarters based on historical share of mortgage and deed of trust data recorded and collected within 45 days from the end of a quarter — which is when ATTOM pulls data for the report.

About ATTOM Data Solutions
ATTOM Data Solutions provides premium property data to power products that improve transparency, innovation, efficiency and disruption in a data-driven economy. ATTOM multi-sources property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, and neighborhood data for more than 155 million U.S. residential and commercial properties covering 99 percent of the nation's population. A rigorous data management process involving more than 20 steps validates, standardizes and enhances the data collected by ATTOM, assigning each property record with a persistent, unique ID — the ATTOM ID. The 9TB ATTOM Data Warehouse fuels innovation in many industries including mortgage, real estate, insurance, marketing, government and more through flexible data delivery solutions that include bulk file licenses, APIs, market trends, marketing lists, match & append and more.

Media Contact:
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SOURCE ATTOM Data Solutions

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