A year-over-year gain in quarterly mortgage production was attributed to borrowers rushing in to lock rates before an anticipated rate increase.
During the period that started on July 1 of last year and ended on Sept. 30, 2015, U.S. lenders were responsible for closing 1.88 million mortgages.
Residential loan production was lower than in the previous three-month period, when mortgage originators generated 2.01 million loan fundings.
The statistics were discussed in the Q4 2015 Industry Insights Report from TransUnion.
Home lending activity picked up, however, from the third quarter of 2014, when 1.55 million mortgages were originated.
“For the first time since the ‘refi’ boom, we believe some origination activity may be attributed to ‘last chance’ refinancing to lock in a low rate before the widely-anticipated Fed Funds Rate increase in December,” TransUnion Mortgage Business Leader Joe Mellman said in the report. “This sustained high level of activity is an indicator of a broadly recovering housing market.”
During the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2015, loan production amounted to
5.37 million mortgages.
As of Dec. 31, 2015, average mortgage debt per borrower was $189,707 — the most it has been since tracking began in 2009.
Average debt was $187,139 at the end of 2014.
“While the total number of mortgage accounts dropped by nearly one million last year, we attribute much of this decline from delinquent mortgage borrowers concluding the foreclosure process and no longer being represented in the overall numbers,” Mellman said.
Residential loan delinquency of at least 60 days closed out 2015 at 2.37 percent.
The 60-day rate improved from the end of the third quarter, when it stood at 2.40 percent.
The improvement was more substantial compared to the end of 2014, when 3.29 percent of all mortgages were past due at least two months.
“This yearly percentage decline doubled the previous year’s 14 percent decrease — observed between Q4 2013 and Q4 2014,” the report stated. “It also marked the largest yearly drop TransUnion has observed for the fourth quarter since the mortgage delinquency rate began to recover in 2010.”
