NWA mortgage originations showing signs of a rebound
by December 19, 2023 12:27 pm 776 views
According to Attom Data Solutions, mortgage originations in Northwest Arkansas were down about 33% in the third quarter this year compared with the same time last year. That’s a bigger drop than nationally.
The California company, which tracks national housing and foreclosure data, issued its third-quarter mortgage report on Nov. 30. It shows that lenders originated 3,439 mortgages secured by residential properties in the Northwest Arkansas metropolitan statistical area (MSA) during July, August and September. That includes all three categories of conventional loans — purchasing, refinancing and home equity.
On a positive note, mortgage activity since the start of the year is showing signs of a rebound. The third-quarter originations are roughly unchanged from the second quarter of the year (3,442), and a 21% gain from the first quarter of 2023 (2,842).
Nationally, in the third quarter of 2023, 1.54 million mortgages were originated, down 26% compared with the same period a year earlier but up 18% compared with the first quarter of the year.
The third-quarter downturn, which came amid increases in mortgage rates and home prices, marked the ninth decline in the last 10 quarters, a string broken only by a spike during the second quarter of this year.
“The mortgage industry took another hit in the third quarter as the spike in residential lending during the Spring turned out to be temporary,” said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. “Refinance deals stood out as the lone bright spot. That seemed a bit odd, given that interest rates went up, but it may have stemmed from homeowners pulling cash out of their growing equity. Overall, the impact of higher rates and other forces working against borrowers remained striking, resulting in total loan activity still off by a remarkable two-thirds over just two years.”
In dollar figures, U.S. lenders issued $482 billion worth of residential mortgages in the third quarter of 2023. That was a 4% drop from the second quarter of 2023 and down 28% from the third quarter of last year.
There were 4,387 loan originations in central Arkansas during the third quarter this year, a quarterly increase of 9% and a 24% year-over-year decrease. There were 1,207 loans in the third quarter in the Fort Smith metro. That’s a 1.8% quarterly decline and a 28.7% decrease from a year ago.