Mortgage tech helps millennial closing times shrink to all-time low

As the mortgage industry makes more strides with technology, the time it took millennials to close loans for new-home purchases shrank to its fastest time yet, according to Ellie Mae's Millennial Tracker.

Since the start of the year, the closing time for millennial new-home purchase loans fell from 44 days in January to an all-time low of 39 days in March.

Overall, the time it took millennials to close all loan types dropped from 45 days in January to 41 in March. Refinance closing times for millennials fell one day from 45 at the start of the year, while Federal Housing Administration loan closing times fell six days to 41 days.

NMN050218ellie.png

"With the ongoing adoption of digital mortgage solutions, millennial homebuyers were able to close purchase loans in 39 days in March, the shortest amount of time since Ellie Mae began tracking millennial loan data in January 2014," Joe Tyrrell, executive vice president of corporate strategy for Ellie Mae, said in a press release.

"As more millennials reach the prime home buying age of 29 to 32 years old, they are finding a mortgage experience leveraging technology that is fast and engaging in ways that their parents couldn't imagine when they were buying their first home," he said.

The average age of millennial homebuyers in March ticked up slightly from 29.5 to 30.1 year-over-year in March.

Married millennials made up 52% of all closed loans in March, with 47% being for single millennials. Males were the primary borrowers for the generation, representing 63% of all loans closed to millennials in March. Female millennials made up 32% of closed loans, while 5% were unspecified.

For millennial borrowers, the average FICO score was 721 in March, down from 724 in February.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Mortgage technology Digital mortgages First time home buyers Purchase Refinance Credit scores Ellie Mae FHA
MORE FROM NATIONAL MORTGAGE NEWS