Refinances during the second quarter jumped nearly 50 percent from the prior quarter and more than 100 percent year-over-year, according to ATTOM Data Solutions.
ATTOM’s 2020 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report said the 1.69 million refinance mortgages in the second quarter is the highest total in seven years.
“The second quarter of 2020 really was a tale of two markets for lenders,” ATTOM Chief Product Officer Todd Teta said in a release. “One saw a continued flood of homeowners refinancing their loans at lower interest rates while the other saw a drop in home-purchase and home-equity borrowing as the economy sagged under virus-related lockdowns.
“How this plays out in the third quarter will depend on how many homeowners still want to roll over their loans and whether the economy recovers enough to boost home sales,” Teta said. “The lending market remains buoyed by cheap money but clouded by major uncertainty.”
According to the report, refinance mortgages originated in the second quarter represented an estimated $513 billion, up 130 percent from a year ago to the highest point in nearly 17 years.
Homeowners refinancing mortgages accounted for 62 percent of all lending activity in the second quarter of 2020, up from 54.5 percent of loans in the first quarter of 2020 and from 39.6 percent in the second quarter of 2019.
ATTOM said refinances during the second quarter increased in all but one (Pittsburgh) of the 211 metropolitan areas analyzed, including in Madison, Wis. (up 403.7 percent); Hilton Head, S.C. (up 358.7 percent); Charleston, S.C. (up 322.4 percent); Greenville, S.C. (up 321.8 percent) and Lincoln, Neb. (up 269.2 percent).
Refinances also more than doubled year-over-year in Washington, D.C. (up 219.9 percent); Milwaukee (up 213.1 percent); Austin, Texas (up 211.9 percent); Raleigh, N.C. (up 205.3 percent) and Birmingham, Ala. (up 198.4 percent).
ATTOM found residential purchase mortgage lending increased in the second quarter in 79 of the 211 metro areas analyzed, including in Davenport, Iowa (up 150.5 percent); South Bend, Ind. (up 135 percent); Provo, Utah (up 74.1 percent); Santa Rosa, Calif. (up 73.7 percent) and San Diego (up 70.3 percent).