NWA mortgage volume up 9.1% in 2Q 2021

A new report from California-based Attom Data Solutions shows that 6,839 mortgages secured by residential property were originated in the second quarter of 2021 in Northwest Arkansas. That’s up 9.1% from the second quarter of 2020 and up 0.5% from the first quarter of this year.

Attom Data Solutions tracks national housing and foreclosure data. The report includes 218 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population of at least 200,000 and at least 1,000 total loans in the second quarter of 2021.

There were 8,000 new loans in the Little Rock metro in the second quarter this year, up nearly 29% from the second quarter of 2020. In the Fort Smith metro, there were 2,215 mortgages secured in the second quarter, up 19% from the second quarter last year.

Refinance activity continues to thrive. Attom’s analysis showed 3,625 owners refinanced a mortgage in Northwest Arkansas in the second quarter. That’s down from an all-time high of 4,202 in the first quarter of the year but still up 7.2% year-over-year.

Attom’s study showed 3.78 million U.S. home loans produced in the second quarter of 2021, down 2.9% quarterly from a revised 3.89 million while jumping 29.3% annually from 2.92 million.

The quarterly decline marked the first time since early in 2020 that the total number of home mortgages issued in the U.S. decreased. More notably, it’s the first time that happened from a first-quarter to a second-quarter period since 2011.