U.S. Residential Loan Origination Dollar Volume Drops To Three-Year Low In Q1 2017

IRVINE, Calif., May 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation's largest multi-sourced property database, today released its Q1 2017 U.S. Residential Property Loan Origination Report, which shows that more than 1.4 million (1,415,847) loans were originated on U.S. residential properties (1 to 4 units) in the first quarter of 2017, down 30 percent from the previous quarter and down 21 percent from a year ago.

The total dollar volume of loan originations in the first quarter was also down 21 percent from a year ago to $347.9 billion, the lowest since Q1 2014 — a three-year low.

"Rising mortgage rates made qualifying for a home purchase more difficult and refinancing an existing home loan less attractive in the first quarter," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. "The data also indicates more homebuyers needed help to qualify for a home purchase in the first quarter. Nearly 22 percent of all single family purchase originations had multiple, non-married co-borrowers on the loan, up from 20 percent a year ago."

Highest share of co-borrowers in Miami, Seattle, San Diego, Los Angeles, Portland
Among 35 U.S. cities with at least 1,000 single family purchase originations in Q1 2017, those with the highest share of non-married co-borrowers were Miami, Florida (40.2 percent); Seattle, Washington (37.4 percent); San Diego, California (28.9 percent); Los Angeles, California (28.2 percent); and Portland, Oregon (27.7 percent).

"Throughout Southern California housing affordability continues to be a contributing cause supporting what has been viewed as an extremely tight available listing market year to date," said Michael Mahon, president at First Team Real Estate, covering the Southern California market. "Increased competition amongst buyers for low available listing inventory and increasing multiple-offer scenarios are driving down use of leveraging mortgages in support of resale transactions while driving increased use of all-cash offers to gain acceptance over competing buyers."

Refinance origination dollar volume drops to more than 10-year low
A total of 675,899 refinance loans secured by U.S. residential properties (1 to 4 units) were originated in Q1 2017, down 36 percent from the previous quarter and down 22 percent from a year ago. The total dollar volume of refinance originations in the first quarter was $167.9 billion, down 39 percent from the previous quarter and down 26 percent from a year ago to the lowest level since Q1 2006 — as far back as data is available in the report.

"Seattle saw the number of purchase and refinance loans decline significantly compared to a year ago, but the reasons are different for each loan type," said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate, covering the Seattle market, where refinance originations declined 17 percent from a year ago and purchase originations were down 5 percent from a year ago. "Purchase loans are down in part because of the decline in home sales due to very limited inventory. They're also down because we've seen an increase in the number of all-cash home purchases. Rising interest rates can be blamed for the drop in refinance loans."

Purchase origination dollar volume drops to three-year low
A total of 513,350 purchase loans secured by U.S. residential properties (1 to 4 units) were originated in Q1 2017, down 29 percent from the previous quarter and down 18 percent from a year ago. The total dollar volume of purchase originations in the first quarter was $136.6 billion, down 27 percent from the previous quarter and down 14 percent from a year ago to the lowest level since Q1 2014 — a three-year low.

HELOC originations drop to three-year low
A total of 226,598 Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) secured by U.S. residential properties (1 to 4 units) were originated in Q1 2017, down 14 percent from the previous quarter and down 22 percent from a year ago. The total dollar volume of HELOCs originated during the first quarter was $43.4 billion, down 14 percent from the previous quarter and down 18 percent from a year ago to the lowest level since Q1 2014 — a three-year low.

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About ATTOM Data Solutions
ATTOM Data Solutions is the curator of the ATTOM Data Warehouse, a multi-sourced national property database that blends property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, health hazards, neighborhood characteristics and other property characteristic data for more than 150 million U.S. residential and commercial properties.

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