The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released a set of new and expanded statistical products from the National Mortgage Database (NMDB®). FHFA expanded the national statistics for new residential mortgage originations to include monthly, quarterly, and annual series for home purchase and refinance mortgages in all major market segments. FHFA also added a new series of national and state level statistics for outstanding residential mortgages and an expanded series of national mortgage performance statistics for different market segments.
“These enhancements to the National Mortgage Database will help users better understand emerging mortgage and housing market trends,” said Dr. Lynn Fisher, FHFA’s Deputy Director of Research and Statistics. “Today’s updates reflect FHFA’s commitment to data transparency and accessibility, ensuring that accurate, comprehensive information is readily available for monitoring the mortgage market.”
Key highlights from the expanded national statistics for new residential mortgage originations include:
- Overall purchase mortgage originations increased 8.0 percent from third quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2020. During the same interval, first-time homebuyer purchase originations increased 10.5 percent compared to 5.6 percent increase for repeat homebuyers. In contrast, refinance originations more than doubled in the same interval as the average contract rate dropped from 4.1 percent to 3.3 percent.
Key highlights from the new national and state level statistics for outstanding residential mortgages include:
- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s (the Enterprises) share of outstanding mortgages increased slightly from 55 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 56 percent in the first quarter of 2021. The Enterprises’ share varies by state (high of 67 percent in Oregon and Utah to low of 34 percent in West Virginia).
Publication of aggregate statistics from NMDB is a step toward carrying out the statutory requirements of section 1324(c) of the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992, as amended by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The statute requires FHFA to conduct a monthly mortgage market survey to collect data on the characteristics of individual mortgages, both Enterprise and non-Enterprise, and to make the data available to the public while protecting the privacy of the borrowers.
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