Loan originations on single-family homes up 23% from year ago

The number of loans originated nationally on single-family homes and condos in this year’s second quarter rose 22 percent from the previous quarter and 23 percent from a year ago, housing data firm RealtyTrac reported Friday.

The tally of 1.95 million loans in the April-through-June period was the highest since the third quarter of 2013, California-based RealtyTrac said. The firm did not provide breakout data on the Portland-Vancouver metro area.

The total dollar volume of loans originated nationwide in the second quarter was nearly $540 billion, up 14 percent from the previous quarter and up 29 percent from a year ago, RealtyTrac said. Refinance loans totaled almost $307 billion in the second quarter, representing nearly 57 percent of total loan origination dollar volume. Loan originations for home purchases, at $234 billion, accounted for the balance of the loan volume.

As a percentage of all loans, loan originations were down from 51 percent in the second quarter of 2014 to 43 percent in this year’s second quarter, the report said.

‘Scrambling to refinance’

The biggest increase in loan originations from a year ago in cities with populations of 500,000 or more were Birmingham, Ala., up 197 percent; Oxnard, Calif., up 58 percent; Minneapolis, up 51 percent; San Jose and Los Angeles, both up 50 percent.

Seattle’s year-over-year increase in loan originations was 39 percent. Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate in the Seattle market, said Seattle’s growth is primarily due to refinancing rather than home purchases.

“Many homeowners are scrambling to refinance before interest rates rise, as they’re expected to do in the fall,” Gardner said. He also noted that the strong local economy is attracting more first-time buyers.