Lenders originated 1.55 million residential mortgage loans during the first quarter of 2015. The number, includes loan originations for both purchases and refinances of single family homes and condominiums. RealtyTrac, in its U.S. Residential Loan Origination Report, noted that the first quarter originations were down 6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014 but surpassed activity in Q1 of 2014 by 17 percent.
Originations for home purchases numbered 471,822, down 25 percent from the previous quarter and 1 percent higher than a year earlier. There were 1.08 million originations for refinancing, an increase of 6 percent for the quarter and 27 percent compared to the first quarter of 2014.
"A dip in interest rates early in the year combined with lowered mortgage insurance premiums for FHA loans breathed some life back into the refinancing market in the first quarter," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. "Meanwhile the purchase loan market remained largely missing in action despite tepid growth from a year ago. The prime buying season still remains ahead, providing some hope that first-time homebuyers and other traditional buyers relying on traditional financing will come out in the woodwork in greater numbers in the coming months."
The dollar volume of originations in the first quarter was $377 billion, up nearly a third from a year earlier but 1 percent below the fourth quarter total. Refinance originations had a dollar volume of $256 billion, 67.8 percent of the total volume while purchase loan originations were valued at $121 billion. Purchase loan volume has decreased over the last three quarters after reaching a recent peak of 49.2 percent in Q2 2014.
Among metro areas with a population of a half million or more the biggest increase in originations year-over-year was in San Jose (+72 percent), San Diego (+64 percent), Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California (+64 percent), Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida (+61 percent), and Boston (+54 percent).
Purchase originations increased by the largest annual percentages in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida (+72 percent), Dayton, (+62 percent) and Toledo (+36 percent) Ohio; Tampa and Kansas City, both up 32 percent.
Conventional loan originations at 995,968 represented 64.2 percent of the total in the first quarter, down 5 percent from the previous quarter but up 13 percent on an annual basis. However conventional purchase loan originations were down 27 percent from the previous quarter and 2 percent from a year ago. Conventional refinance originations increased 10 percent from the previous quarter and were up 21 percent from a year ago.
Just under 13 percent of originations, 200,178 loans, were backed by FHA. This was a 4 percent quarterly increase and 18 percent more than a year earlier. Purchase originations were down 19 percent for the quarter and up 5 percent from Q1 014. FHA refinances jumped 34 percent from the previous quarter and were up 30 percent from a year ago.
There were just shy of 100,000 VA loans originated, a 6.4 percent share. VA originations, while down 5 percent from the previous quarter jumped 57 percent from a year earlier. Purchase originations fell by 25 percent for the quarter but refinances surged by 119 percent compared to the first quarter of 2014.
There were a total of 238,359 Home Equity Lines of Credit originated representing 15.4 percent of all loan originations. HELOC originations were down 17 percent from the previous quarter but still increased 32 percent from a year ago.
