Posted To: MND NewsWire

The share of refinancing loans dropped to 38 percent of loans closed in March, down from 43 percent in February. Ellie Mae’s Origination Insight Report for the month notes that the 5 percent decline in those loans was consistent across all three loans types, FHA, VA, and conventional. Refinancing slipped as the interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to their highest level since January 2014. Ellie Mae said that the average rate on closed loans which had been at 4.33 percent in January and 4.48 in February jumped to 4.69 percent in March. The percentage of loans with adjustable rates (ARMs) increased to 6.3 percent from 5.5 percent the previous month. The distribution of loans across loan types was largely unchanged. The FHA share rose 1 percentage point to 20 percent while conventional…(read more)