First Mortgage Origination Balances Way Up In 2015

First mortgages totaled $1.82 trillion in 2015, which represents a 43 percent increase over 2014 originations, according to the latest Equifax National Consumer Credit Trends Report, released Wednesday.

The report, looking at March numbers, also found that the total number of new first mortgages last year was 7.71 million, an increase of 31.6 percent over 2014. Amid these increases was a strong showing in lending to borrowers with subprime credit (those with credit scores below 620).

According to the report, there were more than 83,000 new loans originated for borrowers with subprime credit in 2015, a year-over-year increase of 31.2 percent. In that same time, the total balance of new loans was $1.73 billion, an increase of 6.5 percent. Also, in 2015, 10.5 percent of all loans were issued to subprime-credit borrowers, a slight increase from the previous year's share.

The total number of new loans originated 2015 also was the highest level in more than seven years, and according to the report, 2014-2015 showed the third-highest percentage increase, for a calendar year since 2008.

"We saw a nice jump in mortgage lending in 2015 that was driven by both rising home-purchase activity and solid refinancing volumes," said Amy Crews Cutts, SVP and Chief Economist at Equifax. "While low interest rates are helping, continued gains in employment and consumer confidence are key.”

That said, Cutts acknowledged that credit scores are still a major factor in lending.

“What we are not seeing is any meaningful loosening of underwriting, at least with respect to credit scores,” she said. “The median credit score on new first mortgages in the fourth quarter of 2015 was 750 and 90 percent of first mortgage borrowers had a score in excess of 646. These values are essentially unchanged for the past three years."

Click here to view the full report.