Monthly home-lending volume recently soared thanks to strong refinancing activity. But the nation’s mortgage production is poised to tumble.
During October 2016, U.S. mortgage banking firms originated 916,958 residential loans with an aggregate principal balance of $242.8 billion.
The production total, which excludes home-equity lines of credit and junior liens, significantly increased from a year earlier, rising 69.7 percent.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported the data Thursday in its new Consumer Credit Trends.
October’s volume was “an unusually large number,”
which the bureau attributed to strong refinance volume.
“The first Consumer Credit Trends release shows a sharp up tick in mortgage originations from August to October compared to last year,” the CFPB stated.
Fannie Mae and the Mortgage Bankers Association both predict that fourth-quarter 2016 originations will total $470 billion, while Freddie Mac expects $485 billion. But all three organizations forecast that production will sink to less than $360 billion in the first-quarter 2017.
In just Colorado, the CFPB reported that mortgage originations were up 113 percent from October 2015, the biggest gain of any state. Next was Nebraska’s 107 percent, then California’s 104 percent, Washington’s 103 percent and Hawaii’s 99 percent.
A 12 percent year-over-year mortgage-lending decline in West Virginia was the worst year-over-year performance.
