The average time it takes millennial mortgage borrowers to close a loan tapered off to 44 days in February, the shortest time period since March 2016, according to Ellie Mae’s recently released Millennial Tracker, a measure of millennial mortgage applications. Closing a purchase loan took two days less than the average at 42 days, while closing a refinance loan took 52 days—both fewer days than in January.
“Purchase loans are increasing, indicating that millennials are continuing to enter the first-time homebuyer market,” says Joe Tyrrell, Ellie Mae’s executive vice president of corporate strategy. “In addition, we saw time to close decrease from 49 days in January to 44 days in February, which indicates that our lenders are seeing more efficiency as they embrace mortgage automation.”
The average time it took for millennial borrowers to close an FHA loan—among the most popular types of loans for millennials—also shortened, to 43 days in February from 47 days in January. Notably, the average time to close a VA loan fell to 41 days, down from 57 days in January.
Millennial borrowers’ average FICO score decreased in February, as well, to 723 from 724 in January, according to the Tracker. The average FICO score for purchase loans was higher, at 747, while the average score for VA loans was 745 and the average score for FHA loans was 690.
