Share of loans closed by millennials up 2 percentage points
More millennials are buying homes and before the spring buying season began, the share of mortgages closed by millennial buyers was on the rise.
The Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker for February 2019 shows that 87% of loans closed were for purchase, up from 85% in January; while refinances dropped to an 11% share from 13% in the previous month.
Conventional loans remained millennial buyers’ loan of choice (68%) despite decreasing slightly from January.
The average days to close edged up to 46 from 44 and was the longest since January 2017.
“The percentage of purchase loans is on the rise with Millennials continuing to enter the homebuying market for their first or maybe even second purchase,” said Joe Tyrrell, executive vice president of strategy and technology for Ellie Mae. “The increase in days-to-close we saw in February is relative to the percentage increase in purchases versus refinances, as purchases typically take longer to close.”
FICO scores across all loan types slightly increased in February to an average of 723, up from 722 in January. For purchases, the average FICO score was 745 for a Conventional loan, 678 for an FHA loan and 740 for a VA loan.
