Millennials Nonplussed by Rising Interest Rates

Nov 14, 2018

Millennials are plunging ahead into homeownership, despite the growing expense contributed by rising interest rates, according to new data from Ellie Mae.

During September, 89 percent of Millennial loan volume was for home purchases, three percentage points higher than a year ago, while 88 percent of closed purchase loans activity by this demographic were conventional mortgages, compared to 81 percent in September 2017; only 27 percent of Millennial loan volume involved the FHA product and two percent relied on VA loans.

“Despite rising interest rates, Millennials are still looking to buy homes,” said Joe Tyrrell, executive vice president of corporate strategy for Ellie Mae. “We’re still seeing the majority of Millennial loans fall into the conventional loan category, and with interest rates increasing, there is an even greater opportunity for the industry to educate these buyers on all of the options that they have available to them, including some of the higher loan-to-value products and FHA loan programs.”

Ellie Mae also determined that Millennial males, both single and married, were listed as the primary borrower on 61 percent of closed loans in September while women were listed on 32 percent and no specified gender was cited on the remainder. The average age of all Millennial borrowers was 29.7, almost equal to the 29.4 average age from a year ago.

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Phil Hall

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Nov 14, 2018

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