Millennial Home Refinancing at New Heights

Refinances represented 33 percent of all loans closed by Millennials in September, according to new data from Ellie Mae. This is up eight percent from August and marks the highest share of refinance activity since Ellie Mae began tracking this data in January 2016.

 

The share of refinances for conventional loans was 40 percent, up 11 percent from August to September. For VA loans, refinance share increased 10 percentage points to 48 percent. And the share of refinances for closed FHA loans was up by a relatively mild one percentage point to 10 percent. The average FICO score for Millennial borrowers in September was 729, higher than at any other point this year.
 
“Throughout 2019, we’ve seen Millennials refinancing in order to take advantage of low interest rates and in September about one out of every three loans closed by this demographic was a home refinance, the highest share we’ve seen since we launched the Millennial Tracker in January 2016,” said Joe Tyrrell, chief operating officer at Ellie Mae. “Lenders have done a great job educating millennials on recognizing refinance opportunities and as a result, this demographic has been able to lock in historically low rates. Going forward, we’ll be keeping a close eye on how these rates impact millennials looking to make a home purchase as well.”