Home mortgage lending rebounded in the United States during the second quarter of 2024, ATTOM data showed. Residential loans surged 23.2 percent quarterly while purchase, refinance and home-equity lending all increased.
The real estate data company’ second-quarter 2024 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report showed that 1.62 million mortgages secured by residential property (1 to 4 units) were issued in the United States. Despite the shift, total residential lending activity is down 1.6 percent from the second quarter of 2023 and 61.2 percent from a high point hit in 2021.
But it marked the first gain in a year and boosted the number of residential loans back up close to the level from a year earlier. The rebound came amid a strong Spring home-buying season and mortgage interest rates that dipped downward after months of increases.
The increase in overall lending resulted from improvements across all major categories of residential loans, especially for home buying. Purchase-loan activity jumped 32.7 percent quarterly, to about 783,000, refinance deals rose by 10.3 percent, to about 546,000, and home-equity credit lines shot up 26.5 percent, to about 286,000.
“The mortgage industry got one of its biggest boosts in years during the second quarter, supported by a combination of the usual Springtime home-buyer demand coupled with more attractive mortgage rates,” said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. “However, a cautionary note is warranted, as we shouldn’t read too much into one great quarter. A similar trend occurred last Spring, with lending dropping off significantly later in the year. But with interest rates settling down and projections for more cuts from the Federal Reserve over the coming months, it wouldn’t be surprising if business increased even more for lenders over the rest of 2024, or at least didn’t drop significantly.”
Total lending recovers losses over the past year but remains well below peaks
Banks and other lenders issued a total of 1,615,281 residential mortgages in the second quarter of 2024, up from 1,311,377 in first quarter of 2024. The latest total was still down slightly from 1,642,100 in the second quarter of 2023 and remained far behind a recent high point of 4,167,656 hit in the first quarter of 2021. But the recent gain mostly reversed three straight quarters of declines.
A total of $532.7 billion was lent to home owners and buyers in the second quarter of this year. That was up from $417.4 billion in the prior quarter and from $526.8 billion in the second quarter of 2023, although still less than half the recent peak of $1.3 trillion in 2021.
Purchase mortgages, also up quarterly but slightly down annually, remain top loan type
The second-quarter purchase-loan total of 782,937 was up from 590,058 in the first quarter of 2024 while the $311 billion dollar volume of purchase loans was 39.2 percent higher than the $223.4 billion first-quarter level.
But the total was off 7 percent from 841,984 a year earlier and remained 50 percent lower than a high point hit in the Spring of 2021. The dollar amount was still off by 2.2 percent from $318.1 billion in the second quarter of last year and 42 percent beneath the 2021 peak.
Refinance mortgages turn back upward
Lenders issued 545,928 residential refinance mortgages in the second quarter of 2024. That was up from 494,862 in the first quarter of 2024 and 503,364 a year earlier.
The most recent figure represented the latest in a series of small comebacks after a spike in interest rates in 2021 and 2022 sent refinance lending downward by more than 80 percent.
The $168.1 billion dollar volume of refinance packages in the second quarter of 2024 was up 10.6 percent from $152 billion in the prior quarter and 8.5 percent from $155 billion in the second quarter of 2023.
HELOC lending also climbs, nearly reaching levels from a year earlier
Home-equity lines of credit (HELOCs) also increased, going from 226,417 in the first quarter of 2024 to 286,416 in the second quarter. The improvement nearly wiped away losses sustained over the prior year, approaching the figure of 296,752 in the second quarter of 2023.
The $53.6 billion volume of HELOC loans in the second quarter of 2024 was up from $42 billion in the prior three-month period, almost equaling the $53.7 billion lent in the second quarter of last year.
HELOCs comprised 17.7 percent of all loans in the most recent quarter. That was down from 18.1 percent in the second quarter of 2023 but was still almost four times the level recorded in 2020.
Typical purchase loan and down-payment percentage increase along with home prices
As the national median home price hit a new high in the second quarter of 2024, the typical single-family home loan and median down-payment percentage both rose.
Among homes purchased with financing in the second quarter of 2024, the median loan amount climbed to $368,207. That was up 7.2 percent from $343,561 in the prior quarter and 8.4 percent from $339,625 a year earlier.
Also rising was the median down payment, going up 11.1 percent quarterly, to $24,250; although it was still down 7.7 percent from a year earlier.
