Ellie Mae said on Thursday that its latest Origination Insight Report “Reflects a home buying season in full swing.” The May data shows purchase volume taking a 58 percent share of all mortgage originations, up from 52 percent in April, reports Jann Swanson at Mortgage News Daily.
The report noted that the average 30-year rate on all closed loans fell slightly for the first time since February, from 4.062% to 4.013%. Jonathan Corr, president and CEO of Ellie Mae said that the May share of purchase mortgages did fall below the 66 percent share in May 2014 because the lower mortgage rates last month gave some help to refinancing volumes and share.
The FHA share of loan originations in May was unchanged from April at 24 percent while Conventional originations dipped by 1 percentage point and VA originations increased by that same amount to 63 percent and 10 percent respectively.
The overall closing rate for purchase loans was 68.2 percent, the highest since January and almost 5 percent above the 2014 average. Refinancing loans had a closing rate of 60.1 down from 64.0 percent in April but that rate was still more than 10 percentage points higher than the average for all of 2014. The overall closing rate for loans originated in May was 64.0 percent.
