Last year’s first-lien residential loan production ascended to the highest level in nine years, with purchase-money activity reaching a decade high.
Mortgage bankers originated 2.080 million loans for $559 billion during the period that started on Oct. 1, 2016, and concluded at year-end 2016.
The number of loans closed retreated from the previous three-month
period, when the nation’s mortgage production came to 2.165 million loans.
Those details were discussed in the
Mortgage Monitor Report from Black Knight Financial Services.
Fourth-quarter 2016 originations included
$260 billion in loans used to finance a home purchase.
“We’ve now seen nine consecutive quarters of double digit purchase origination growth, and overall growth in the purchase market in 21 of the past 22 quarters,” the report stated.
Another $299 billion of the latest quarter’s business was refinance production — the most of any period since the second-quarter 2013.
Full-year 2016 first-lien originations amounted to for 7.723 million loans for $2.1 trillion — the highest dollar volume since 2007.
Last year’s business was a 17 percent increase over 2015, when originations were previously reported at $1.761 trillion.
Purchase-money lending increased 13 percent between 2015 and 2016. Last year was the strongest year since 2006, when volume was $1.1. trillion. Still, purchase financing came up 28 percent short of the 2005 peak.
Refinance originations were up 22 percent from 2015 to more than $1 trillion last year. It was the most refinance volume since 2013.
