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47 July 2025 J O U R N A L July 2025 ยป themortgagepoint.com New Home Loans See Rapid Decline in Some U.S. Metros Across the nation, mortgage industry activity has slowed, with lending expand- ing only in a few major metro regions. Some 93% (180) of the 193 metro statistical areas in ATTOM's survey with popula- tions of 200,000 or more and at least 1,000 residential mortgages issued in Q1 2025 saw a quarterly decline in the number of issued mortgages. In contrast to the same period last year, a large portion of the nation saw greater loans in the most recent quarter, despite the recent decline. In 73.6% (142) of the 193 metro areas, the overall number of mortgages rose from the previous year. The largest quarterly decreases were in: 1. Duluth, MN (-35.6%) 2. Fort Wayne, IN (-34.6%) 3. Greeley, CO (-34.1%) 4. St. Louis (-31.8%) 5. Anchorage, AK (-31.5%) The metro areas with the largest quar- ter-over-quarter growth in loans were: 1. Asheville, NC (+24.1%) 2. Cape Coral, FL (+23.1%) 3. North Port-Sarasota, FL (+21.7%) 4. Brownsville, Texas (+21.2%) 5. Tampa, FL (+17.8%) The value of homebuying mortgages fell an estimated 20.1% from $293 billion to $234 billion, while the number of mort- gages issued nationwide decreased 19.7% from quarter-to-quarter. That was less than half of the most recent peak, which occurred in mid-2021 with 1.6 million pur- chase loans for $540 billion. According to ATTOM's survey of Q1 2025, mortgages for home purchases decreased quarterly in 94.8% (183) of the 193 metro regions. The metro areas with the biggest quarter-over-quarter declines in loans for purchases were: 1. Greeley, CO (-68%) 2. Anchorage, AK (-67.3%) 3. Fort Wayne, IN (-54.7%) 4. Duluth, MN (-46.8%) 5. Lubbock, Texas (-44.9%) The metro areas with the greatest growth compared to last quarter were: 1. Yuma, AZ (+35.5%) 2. Cape Coral, FL (+28.5%) 3. Asheville, NC (+0.9%) 4. North Port-Sarasota, FL (+6.4%) 5. Colorado Springs, CO (+6%) The number of home purchase loans increased quarterly just in two of those largest metro regions. Tucson, AZ, saw a 3.9% increase, while Tampa, FL saw an estimated 4% gain. Among metro areas with popula- tions over 1 million, the biggest quarterly declines in loans for home purchases were in: 1. Austin, Texas (-38.5%) 2. St. Louis (-37.8%) 3. Rochester, NY (-36.6%) 4. Houston, Texas (-35.7%) 5. Indianapolis (-33.5%) While government changes continue and looming economic concerns persist, in Q1 2025, 227,159 Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed loans were granted by lenders. That was up 2.6% year-over-year but down 8.8% from the prior quarter. From 14.9 to 15.8%, the pro- portion of all home loans that are FHA- backed increased from quarter-to-quarter. There were only 78,862 loans backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). That was 8.4% higher year- over-year but 27.2% lower than Q4 2024. In Q1 2025, VA-backed loans made up 5.5% of all loans. Further, across the country, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) experi- enced the least decline. Between the first quarter of 2025 and Q4 2024, they fell 4.5%, from 272,535 to 260,267. However, that was 13.9% higher than it was in Q1 of the previous year. In 61.7% (119) of the 193 metro regions in ATTOM's survey, the number of HELOCs decreased from quarter-to-quarter.