With the spring home buying season kicking into high gear, the mortgage industry moved even deeper into a purchase market in May, as shown by Ellie Mae's Origination Insight report.
Purchase loans increased 6% to reach 58% of overall volume – up from 52% in April. Meanwhile, applications for refinances were about 42% of all volume – down from 47% in April.
May was the third straight month that purchase volume increased, according to the mortgage origination software company.
Mortgage rates fell slightly in May, according to the report. The average rate on all closed loans fell slightly for the first time since February, from 4.062% to 4.013%.
‘Our May data reflects a home buying season in full swing,’ says Jonathan Corr, president and CEO of Ellie Mae, in a release. ‘While the share of purchase loan volume is lower than it was one year ago, lower mortgage rates have given some help to refinancing volumes and share.’
The overall closing rate for purchase loans climbed to 68.2%, the highest since January and almost 5% higher than the 2014 average.
The average closing period for all loans increased from 45 to 46 days.
The average FICO score for all closed first-lien loans in May was 730.