Lenders Managed Quick Closings despite Refi Surge

February was the second month in a row that refinancing made up more than half of all mortgage originations.  Ellie Mae's latest Origination Insight Report said that the refinancing share of originations jumped 8 percent from the January level to comprise 59 percent of lenders' loan volume.  Refinancing had averaged a 38 percent share throughout 2014, never rising above 50 percent after reaching a high water market of 47 percent in January of that year.  Despite the spike in refinancing lenders took an average of 36 days to close those loans, the shortest timeframe since Ellie Mae began tracking that data in August 2011.

"The drop in the average 30-year fixed rate in last few months has kept lenders busy with increased refinance business," said Jonathan Corr, president and CEO of Ellie Mae. "Considering the demand, the fact that lenders are taking fewer days to close the average refi loan is very good news."

Conventional loans made up 69 percent of originations in February with 68 percent of those loans refinances.  FHA loans had a 19 percent share, but the majority of those, 63 percent, were for home purchases.  Nine percent of originations were VA-backed loans.  

Loans for purchase took an average of 40 days to close.  The average closing time for all loans was 38 days.

Only 4 percent of loans carried an adjustable interest rate, down from 5.1 percent in January and the lowest share since at least late 2013.  The share of 15-year loans rose to 11.1 percent from 10.8 percent in January and was the highest percentage of originations for those loans since their 12.2 percent share in April 2014.

To get a meaningful view of lender pull-through, Ellie Mae reviewed a sampling of loan applications initiated 90 days prior-or the November 2014 applications-to calculate an overall closing rate of 60.0 percent in February 2015. It was the fourth consecutive month that the closing rate has been at or above 60 percent.

Ellie Mae's Origination Insight Report mines its data from a 66 percent sample of all mortgage applications that were initiated on the company's Encompass® origination platform which last year managed approximately 3.7 million loan applications.