PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Interest rates on all closed loans continued to decline in April to 3.48 percent, down from 3.65 percent in March, according to the March Origination Insight Report from Ellie Mae®, the leading cloud-based loan origination platform provider for the mortgage industry.

The 30-year rate on conventional loans fell again, dropping to 3.48 percent, down from 3.65 percent in March. Similarly, the 30-year rate on FHA loans fell to 3.56 percent in April, down from 3.76 percent in March. The 30-year rate on VA loans dropped to 3.31 percent in April, down from 3.45 percent in March.

As rates dropped, the percentage of refinances continued to increase, representing 65 percent of closed loans, up from 55 percent in March and 51 percent in February.

Other statistics of note in April included:

The time to close all loans increased to 42 days in April, up from 40 days in March.

FICO scores on all loans increased to 749 in April, up from 742 in March.

Conventional refinance FICO scores increased to 763, up from 758 in March and representing the highest such score since January of 2013.

"Interest rates continued to decline in April, driving up the share of refinances by 10 percent," said Jonathan Corr, President and CEO of Ellie Mae. "We're also seeing FICO scores increase as lenders manage the current economic uncertainty by tightening credit. Ellie Mae has seen record volumes on our Encompass Digital Lending Platform in recent weeks, indicating that by leveraging digital mortgage technology, our lenders are able to serve their customers through this time of rapid change."

The Origination Insight Report mines data from a robust sampling of approximately 80 percent of all mortgage applications that were initiated on the Encompass® all-in-one mortgage management solution. Ellie Mae believes the Origination Insight Report is a strong proxy of the underwriting standards employed by lenders across the country.

In addition to the Origination Insight Report, Ellie Mae also distributes data from its monthly Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker on the first Wednesday of each month. The Ellie Mae Millennial Tracker focuses on mortgage applications submitted by borrowers born between the years 1980 and 1999. MONTHLY ORIGINATION OVERVIEW FOR APRIL 2020 Apr.

2020* Mar.

2020* 6 Months Ago

(Oct. 2019*) 1 Year Ago

(Apr. 2019*) Closed Loans Purpose Refinance 65% 55% 51% 35% Purchase 35% 45% 49% 65% Type FHA 10% 16% 16% 20% Conventional 81% 74% 73% 66% VA 6% 8% 8% 11% Days to Close All 42 40 44 40 Refinance 39 35 39 33 Purchase 46 45 47 43 Percentage of ARM and Fixed Loan Volume ARM % 3.9% 3.2% 5.0% 6.8% 30-Year Rate Average 3.48% 3.65% 3.94% 4.61%

*All references to months should be read as month ended. PROFILES OF CLOSED AND DENIED LOANS FOR MARCH 2020 Closed First-Lien Loans (All Types) FICO Score (FICO) 749 Loan-to-Value (LTV) 74 Debt-to-Income (DTI) 23/35

More information and analysis of closed and denied loans by loan purpose and investor are available in the full report at http://www.elliemae.com/about-us/news-reports/ellie-mae-reports/.

To get a meaningful view of lender pull-through, Ellie Mae reviewed a sampling of loan applications initiated 90 days prior-or the January 2020 applications-to calculate an overall closing rate of 76.5 percent in April 2020 (see full report). About the Ellie Mae Origination Insight Report

The Origination Insight Report focuses on loans that closed in a specific month and compares their characteristics to similar loans that closed three and six months earlier. The closing rate is calculated on a 90-day cycle rather than on a monthly basis because most loan applications typically take one-and-a-half to two months from application to closing. Loans that do not close could still be active applications or applications withdrawn by consumers or denied for incompleteness or non-qualification.

The Origination Insight Report details aggregated anonymized data pulled from Ellie Mae's Encompass origination platform.

News organizations have the right to reuse this data, provided that Ellie Mae, Inc. is credited as the source. About Ellie Mae

Ellie Mae is the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry. Ellie Mae's technology solutions enable lenders to originate more loans, reduce origination costs, and shorten the time to close, all while ensuring the highest levels of compliance, quality and efficiency. Visit EllieMae.com or call 877.355.4362 to learn more. PRESS CONTACT

Erica Bigley

Ellie Mae, Inc.

(925) 227-5913

Erica.Bigley@elliemae.com

Caitlin Coffee

Allison+Partners

(312) 635-8204

EllieMae@allisonpr.com

# # #

© 2020 Ellie Mae, Inc. Ellie Mae®, Encompass®, AllRegs®, Mavent®, Velocify®, the Ellie Mae logo and other trademarks or service marks of Ellie Mae, Inc. appearing herein are the property of Ellie Mae, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Other company and product names may be trademarks or copyrights of their respective owners.

.

(C) 2020 M2 COMMUNICATIONS, source M2 PressWIRE