ICE Mortgage Monitor: Mortgage Lending Quietly Hits Highest Quarterly Volume Since 2022, Driven by Purchase and Cash-Out Refinance Loans
'Homeowners are actively drawing on record equity with cash-out refinance loans, signaling increased demand despite elevated rates,' said Andy Walden, Head of Mortgage and Housing Market Research at ICE. 'Meanwhile, a substantial cohort of people who purchased homes over the last three years are watching on the sidelines for rates to drop so they can refinance into a lower monthly payment.'
Cash-out refinances drive the majority of refinance activity
Cash-out refinances accounted for 59% of all refinance transactions in the second quarter. Notably, 70% of those borrowers accepted higher interest rates, averaging a 1.45 percentage point increase, in exchange for tapping an average of $94,000 in home equity. These borrowers saw monthly payments increase by about $590. Cash-out borrowers tended to have lower average credit scores (719) and smaller loan balances ($188,000) compared to their rate-and-term counterparts. See the full report for more detail.
Home equity hits record high
Tappable equity hit another record high in Q2, with borrowers entering Q3 with a record $17.8 trillion in total equity, including $11.6 trillion in tappable equity that can be accessed while maintaining a 20% cushion. Roughly 48 million mortgage holders had tappable equity, with the average homeowner holding $213,000 in accessible value.
Slowing home prices may signal plateauing equity growth
While equity levels remain high, the pace of home equity growth has slowed to its lowest rate in two years. This deceleration is largely attributable to declining home prices in key Sunbelt and Western markets. Cities like Austin (-38%) and Deltona, Fla. (-37%) have seen tappable equity per borrower fall by more than 25% from recent peaks. Nearly one-quarter of U.S. markets have experienced at least a 5% drop in tappable equity. Additionally, about 1% of mortgage holders – roughly 564,000 borrowers – now owe more than their homes are worth.
Homeowners turning to cash-out refinances in Q2 posed challenges – and opportunities – for mortgage servicers seeking to retain homeowners' business.
Retaining cash-out borrowers a challenge for mortgage servicers
Cash-out prospects can be difficult to identify using rate-based triggers alone, and as a result, retention for these loans hit a more-than-four-year low. This brought down overall refinance retention to 23%, the lowest level since Q2 2024. Despite these challenges, Q2 also featured bright spots for mortgage servicers. Retention rates among borrowers who purchased in 2024 came in at 43% – nearly double the market average – showing that lenders who are top-of-mind with borrowers are more likely to win repeat business.
'As homeowners increasingly look to access their equity, lenders and servicers need tools that help reach them first,' said Tim Bowler, President of ICE Mortgage Technology. 'By embedding refinance capabilities within the servicing experience – as we did with the newest integration between our MSP® servicing and Encompass® loan origination systems – we offer customers a powerful way to stay ahead of borrower intent when timing is everything. Additionally, our robust data and analytics enable customers to move beyond simple rate-drop targeting to strengthen retention.'
The full August Mortgage Monitor report contains a deeper analysis of June mortgage performance, mortgage origination opportunities and trends, and a housing market update featuring July ICE Home Price Index (HPI) data.
Further detail, including charts, can be found in this month's Mortgage Monitor report.
About the ICE Mortgage Monitor
ICE manages the nation's leading repository of loan-level residential mortgage data and performance information covering the majority of the overall market, including tens of millions of loans across the spectrum of credit products and more than 160 million historical records. The ICE Home Price Index provides one of the most complete, accurate and timely measures of home prices available, covering 95% of U.S. residential properties down to the ZIP code level. In addition, the company maintains one of the most robust public property records databases available, covering 99.9% of the U.S. population and households from more than 3,100 counties.
ICE's research experts carefully analyze this data to produce a summary supplemented by dozens of charts and graphs that reflect trend and point-in-time observations for the monthly Mortgage Monitor report. To review the full report, visit: https://mortgagetech.ice.com/resources/data-reports.
About Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) is a Fortune 500 company that designs, builds, and operates digital networks that connect people to opportunity. We provide financial technology and data services across major asset classes helping our customers access mission-critical workflow tools that increase transparency and efficiency. ICE's futures, equity, and options exchanges -- including the New York Stock Exchange -- and clearing houses help people invest, raise capital and manage risk. We offer some of the world's largest markets to trade and clear energy and environmental products. Our fixed income, data services and execution capabilities provide information, analytics and platforms that help our customers streamline processes and capitalize on opportunities. At ICE Mortgage Technology, we are transforming U.S. housing finance, from initial consumer engagement through loan production, closing, registration and the long-term servicing relationship. Together, ICE transforms, streamlines, and automates industries to connect our customers to opportunity.
Trademarks of ICE and/or its affiliates include Intercontinental Exchange, ICE, ICE block design, NYSE and New York Stock Exchange. Information regarding additional trademarks and intellectual property rights of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and/or its affiliates is located here. Key Information Documents for certain products covered by the EU Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products Regulation can be accessed on the relevant exchange website under the heading 'Key Information Documents (KIDS).'
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 -- Statements in this press release regarding ICE's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, as filed with the SEC on February 6, 2025.
Source: Intercontinental Exchange
Category: Mortgage Technology
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