LenderLogix Q4 2024 Homebuyer Intelligence Report Data Indicates Possible Improvement In Affordability

LenderLogix released the 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 in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2024. Here’s what the report concluded:

Pre-Approvals

In Q4 2024, borrowers generated 37,831 pre-approval letters through LenderLogix’s QuickQual pre-approval platform, a 23.4% decrease from Q3 2024. The average number of pre-approved borrowers per loan officer decreased from 28.5 in Q3 2024 to 23 in Q4 2024.

The average pre-approval letter loan amount slightly decreased from $388,215 in Q3 to $322,532 in Q4. The average sales price also decreased from $446,390 to $376,436. The average down payment size shows a marginal increase from 13% in Q3 to 14.3%.

Conventional loans remained the most popular loan type for pre-approved borrowers in Q4, though decreasing slightly from 76% to 74.3% in the prior quarter. FHA pre-approvals increased somewhat from 17.9% to 19.1%. VA (4%) and USDA (1%) maintained their share from Q3 to Q4 2024.

“The overall decrease and drop in pre-approvals was expected in Q4 as this is historically a lower-volume quarter overall,” said LenderLogix Co-Founder and CEO Patrick O’Brien. “However, the decrease in average sales price is a promising sign for affordability and may indicate a potential increase in mortgage-ready borrowers as the new year begins.”

Borrower Conversion

Of the borrowers using QuickQual in Q3 2024, the average number of days between pre-approval and loan submission held steady at 91 days in Q4. The most prolonged duration between pre-approval and application increased by fifty-seven days from 593 in Q3 to 650 in Q4. The conversion rate from borrowers using QuickQual to loan application decreased slightly from 56% to 54% in Q4. Borrowers generated an average of eight pre-approval letters before converting.

“Despite a large increase in the longest duration between pre-approval and application, the average duration remained the same,” O’Brien noted. “Thus, loan officers can, on the whole, expect borrowers to continue moving through the pipeline steadily and should be prepared to accommodate them.”