Data Shows Home Buying Activity And Fees Collected By Fee Chaser Remain Steady Thus Far In 2024

LenderLogix, a provider of mortgage point-of-sale and automation software for banks, credit unions, independent mortgage banks, and brokers, released the latest Homebuyer Intelligence Report, a quarterly summary of insights into borrower behavior during the home buying process based on data collected by the LenderLogix suite of tools. The latest report covers data collected during the pre-approval and borrower application process during the second quarter (Q2) of 2024. Here’s what they found:

Pre-Approvals

In Q2 2024, borrowers generated 58,057 pre-approval letters through LenderLogix’s QuickQual pre-approval platform, an 8% increase from Q1 2024. The average number of pre-approved borrowers per loan officer increased from 25 in Q1 2024 to 29 in Q2 2024.

The average pre-approval letter loan amount slightly decreased from $309,771 in Q1 to $308,681 in Q2. However, the average sales price slightly increased from $358,175 to $362,780. The average down payment size shows a change, marginally increased from 13.6% in Q1 to 14.6%.

Conventional loans remained the most popular loan type for pre-approved borrowers, staying consistent at 76%. FHA pre-approvals increased incrementally from 17.6% to 17.8%. VA (4%) and USDA share (1%) maintained their share from Q1 to Q2 2024.

“Overall borrower activity has stayed consistent in 2024,” said LenderLogix Co-Founder and CEO Patrick O’Brien. “Given these steady numbers, loan officers leveraging our products have been able to maintain steady business and origination levels. With QuickQual’s conversation rate at 58% and the average per fee collection size at $646, loan officers are continuing to focus on what’s working for them in the current market.”

Borrower Conversion

Of the borrowers using QuickQual in Q1 2024, the average number of days between pre-approval and loan submission increased nearly 8% to 85 days compared to 78.29 days in Q1. The most prolonged duration between pre-approval and application decreased from 699 days in Q1 to 603 days. Despite this significant change, the conversion from borrowers using QuickQual to loan application increased slightly to 58% from 57% in Q1. Within this subset, borrowers generated an average of 8.7 pre-approval letters before converting.

“While the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold on rate cuts until possibly later in the year may have dampened lenders’ expectations, borrowers seem to have come to terms with the current state of interest rates and are committed to buying, though perhaps not to the same degree as in previous purchase cycles,” O’Brien noted. “The lesson we’ve observed through the first half of 2024 is that there is business to be had, but lenders may need to dig deeper to find it.”