MB Insider Trends: Credit Score and First Time Buyers

Interested in seeing where the hot spots are in mortgage originations? Here are some interesting stats that we are seeing in the data right now.

Disclaimer: These are numbers that we are seeing in the MonitorBase platform, and does not necessarily represent stats for the entire country. Although, this should give you a good idea of some interesting trends, and hopefully helps in your current origination efforts.  

No news is sometimes good news, and things are remaining stable. 

Last week we saw a pick up in first time home buyer inquiries and that has extended through this week, remaining steady.

The more recent mortgage, the more likely they are to apply.
We are still seeing a higher trend in mortgage inquiries (mortgage application credit pulls) for households that have a mortgage opened within the past 12 months.

20% - 25% of applicants have an underlying mortgage that is only 1 - 12 months old. This is where your EPO risk lies, but is a huge opportunity for refinancing. Keep a close eye on your recent clients, and make sure you have your inquiry alerts turned on to see if any of them apply for a new mortgage with someone else. 

In the past week 21% of mortgage inquiry alerts had a mortgage age between 1-12 months old. See the table below:

There has been a 50.4% jump in mortgage inquiries for people with no mortgage (First time Homebuyers).   

We’ve also seen a consistent trend in FICO scores, about 70% of people applying for mortgages have a score over 700. 

70% of inquiry alerts for the past week have a credit score of 700+

MonitorBase started in 2007 around the concept of credit migration. We wanted to track how credit was affected with the recession and so much financial struggle. People were missing mortgage payments, credit card, and loan payments, which lead to huge drops in credit scores and put people out of the market. 

Throughout the next few years, we saw a lot of hope and opportunity with people’s credit migrating, making them finally eligible for a new mortgage or a refinance. This progress lasted for years after the 2008 recession, and gives us hope for the future in these uncertain times. 

Keep an eye out next week for more trend updates! subscribe to the MonitorBase Blog at the top of the page and join our MonitorBase Insider Facebook Group.