Residential Purchase Originations Up 2 Percent, Refinance Originations Down 11 Percent;
Co-Buyer Share Up to 17.4 Percent, Down Payments 46 Percent Higher Than Other Buyers;
Median Down Payment Increases 27 Percent From Year Ago
IRVINE, Calif. – June 14, 2018 — ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database, today released its Q1 2018 U.S. Residential Property Loan Origination Report, which shows that more than 1.8 million (1,813,691) loans secured by residential property (1 to 4 units) were originated in Q1 2018, down 5 percent from the previous quarter and down 3 percent from a year ago.
- 665,887 of the residential loans originated in Q1 2018 were purchase loans, down 16 percent from the previous quarter but still up 2 percent from a year ago.
- 799,939 of the residential loans originated in Q1 2018 were refinance loans, down 2 percent from the previous quarter and down 11 percent from a year ago.
- 347,875 Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) were originated on residential properties in Q1 2018, up 18 percent from the previous quarter and up 14 percent from a year ago
The loan origination report is derived from publicly recorded mortgages and deeds of trust collected by ATTOM Data Solutions in more than 1,700 counties accounting for more than 87 percent of the U.S. population. Counts and dollar volumes for the two most recent quarters are projected based on available data at the time of the report (see full methodology below).
“Putting home equity to work is the name of the game in the 2018 housing market — both for current homeowners as well as homebuyers,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. “With interest rates rising and home price appreciation accelerating, current homeowners are increasingly turning to home equity lines of credit rather than refinances to tap their home’s equity. And given that median down payments rose more than four times as fast as median home prices over the past year, it’s not surprising that homebuyers are increasingly getting help from co-buyers — often in exchange for a share of their home’s future equity.”