The percentage of borrowers buying a home who applied for mortgages through a broker increased in 2019 from a year earlier, while the percentage of those applying through a bank or credit union fell under 50%, according to a new report.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Thursday published updated data collected via the National Survey of Mortgage Originations (NSMO). Data from the survey provides insights into borrowers’ experiences in obtaining residential mortgages.
FHFA and CFPB have sent surveys each quarter since 2014 to borrowers who recently obtained mortgages. Thursday’s update provided two additional years of data through 2019.
FHFA Deputy Director Lynn Fisher said the new data sets a baseline for “how borrowers viewed the mortgage process just prior to the COVID crisis.”
Key highlights include:
- The percentage of survey respondents who reported applying for a mortgage through a mortgage broker increased from 42% in 2018 to 46% in 2019 for home-purchase mortgages, and from 30% in 2018 to 38 percent in 2019 for refinances.
- On the other hand, the percentage of respondents who applied directly through a bank or credit union decreased from 54% in 2018 to 49% in 2019 for home-purchase mortgages, and from 67% in 2018 to 61% in 2019 for refinances.
- The percentage of respondents who reported not being concerned about qualifying for a mortgage during the application process increased from 48% in 2018 to 51% in 2019. Respondents who reported not being concerned about qualifying for refinancing a mortgage increased from 57% in 2018 to 66 percent in 2019.
- The percent of respondents who reported a paperless online mortgage process being important in choosing a mortgage lender or broker remained relatively high and unchanged from 2018 to 2019 (40 percent for home-purchase mortgages and 44 percent for refinances).
“Hearing directly from borrowers is key to helping us better understand mortgage market trends,” said Mark McArdle, CFPB Assistant Director for Mortgage Markets. “The data collected in this survey will provide us with a fuller picture of borrowers’ experiences and will improve the lending process for future borrowers.”
You can read more about the survey and find links to the data here.
