The number of loan originations during the first quarter of 2018 dropped 3 percent from one year ago, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q1 2018 U.S. Residential Property Loan Origination Report.
According to the report, there were slightly more than 1.8 million (1,813,691) loans secured by residential property (1 to 4 units) during the first quarter, down 5 percent from the previous quarter.
Of those, 665,887 of the residential loans originated were purchase loans, down 16 percent from the previous quarter and up 2 percent from a year ago, the report found.
Nearly 800,000 of the residential loans originated were refinances, down 2 percent from the previous quarter and down 11 percent from a year ago.
“Putting home equity to work is the name of the game in the 2018 housing market — both for current homeowners as well as homebuyers,” ATTOM Data Solutions Senior Vice President Daren Blomquist said in a release. “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,” Blomquist added.
ATTOM said there were 347,875 Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) originated on residential properties during the first quarter, up 18 percent from the previous quarter and up 14 percent from a year ago
The metro areas with the biggest year-over-year increases in HELOC originations in the first quarter were Athens, Ga. (up 176 percent); Chattanooga, Tenn. (up 165 percent); Norwich, Conn. (up 99 percent); Kingsport, Tenn. (up 92 percent); and Atlantic City (up 87 percent), ATTOM found.
During the first quarter, ATTOM said the median down payment on single family homes and condos purchase with financing was $16,750, down 4 percent from $17,500 in the previous quarter but up 27 percent from $13,207 one year ago.
The median down payment represented 6.6 percent of the median sales price of the homes purchased with financing during the quarter, down from 6.9 percent in the previous quarter but up from 5.5 percent in Q1 2017.
The metropolitan areas with the biggest median down payments for homes purchased in the first quarter were San Jose ($298,250); San Francisco ($180,000); Los Angeles ($122,000); Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.($102,958); and San Diego ($80,100).
Other metro areas with median down payments of $50,000 or higher in the first quarter were Naples, Fla. $64,750); Seattle ($59,800); Boston ($55,000); and New York-Newark-Jersey City ($50,000).