[May 02, 2018]

March Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker™ Shows Millennials Closing Times Shrink to Fastest Mark

As the spring homebuying season got underway in March, the time it took Millennials to close mortgage loans for new home purchases decreased to its fastest time yet, at 39 days, down from 41 days the previous month, according to the latest Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker™.

The average age of the Millennial homebuyer also slightly increased year-over-year according to Millennial Tracker data. The average age of the Millennial homebuyer in March 2018 was 30.1, a slight jump from March 2017's average age of 29.5. In March 2018, males were listed as the primary borrower on 63 percent of closed loans to Millennials, while women represented 32 percent, and five percent were unspecified. Married Millennials represented 52 percent of all closed loans while 47 percent were for single Millennials.

"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," said Joe Tyrrell, executive vice president of corporate strategy for Ellie Mae. "As more Millennials reach the prime homebuying 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."

Share of Conventional, FHA and VA purchase loans saw significant upticks in March, as Millennials continued to take advantage of various loan options to buy a home. Conventional purchase loans closed by Millennial borrowers rose to 85 percent in March, up from 80 percent the month prior. While the share of FHA purchase loans rose two percentage points to 96 percent month-over-month, VA purchase loans saw the most significant increase in March at 79 percent, up from 66 percent in February.

Additional key findings from the March 2018 Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker include:

• The average FICO score for Millennial borrowers fell to 721 in March, down from 724 in February. The average FICO score for female borrowers in March was 722. It was 723 for male borrowers.
• The average loan-to-value (LTV) ratio for Millennial borrowers in March was 87, comparatively higher than the average for borrowers of all ages, which as outlined in the March Origination Insight Report was 79. Average Millennial borrower debt-to-income (DTI (News - Alert)) ratio was 25/38, while the average for borrowers overall came in at 26/39.
• The top markets by percentage of Millennial loans closed included Dyersburg, Tenn. (73 percent), Binghamton, N.Y. (70 percent), Fairmont, W.Va. (68 percent) and Mount Sterling, Ky. (63 percent).

Ellie Mae® (NYSE:ELLI) is the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry.

The Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker is an interactive online tool that provides access to up-to-date demographic data about this new generation of homebuyers. It mines data from a robust sampling of approximately 80 percent of all closed mortgages dating back to 2014 that were initiated on Ellie Mae's Encompass® all-in-one mortgage management solution. Given the size of this sample and Ellie Mae's market share, it is a strong proxy of Millennial mortgage indicators across the country. Searches can be tailored by borrower geography, age, gender, marital status, FICO score and amortization type.

For more information, visit http://elliemae.com/millennial-tracker.

ABOUT THE ELLIE MAE MILLENNIAL TRACKER

The Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker focuses on Millennial mortgage applications during specific time periods. Ellie Mae defines Millennials as applicants born between the years 1980 and 1999. New data is updated on the first Monday of every month for two months prior.

The Millennial Tracker is a subset of our Origination Insight Report, which details aggregated, anonymized data pulled from Ellie Mae's Encompass origination platform. Additional information regarding the Origination Insight Report can be found at http://elliemae.com/resources/origination-insight-reports. News organizations have the right to reuse this data, provided that Ellie Mae, Inc. is credited as the source.

ABOUT ELLIE MAE

Ellie Mae (NYSE:ELLI) is the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry. Ellie Mae's technology solutions enable lenders to originate more loans, reduce origination costs, and reduce the time to close, all while ensuring the highest levels of compliance, quality and efficiency. Visit EllieMae.com or call (877) 355-4362 to learn more.

© 2018 Ellie Mae, Inc. Ellie Mae^®, Encompass^®, AllRegs^®, the Ellie Mae logo and other trademarks or service marks of Ellie Mae, Inc. appearing herein are the property of Ellie Mae, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Other company and product names may be trademarks or copyrights of their respective owners.

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