2016 Looks to Be a Bullish Mortgage Market

According to the new Lenders One^® Mortgage Barometer, a survey of 200 mortgage lending professionals, nearly two in three mortgage lending professionals (62 percent) expect mortgage purchase production to increase, with an overall average anticipated increase of 11 percent in 2016. Also, 87 percent believe the mortgage purchase market will be somewhat to extremely active.

Mortgage lenders’ leading strategies for growth are new marketing tactics to reach new demographics (60 percent), followed by offering new products (42 percent), hiring sales staff (40 percent), and regional expansion (36 percent).

Mortgage Lenders Identify Diverse Growth Opportunities

Lenders highlighted specific groups that will present the best growth opportunities this year:

• Nearly four in five (79 percent) identified Millennials as this age group begins to approach the peak age for home buying.
• 71 percent named Hispanics.
• 70 percent identified non-traditional buyers in the rental and vacation home markets, which may bode well for lenders targeting strong secondary home markets.
• 68 percent named “boomerang buyers,” those who can now qualify for a mortgage after undergoing a short sale, foreclosure, or bankruptcy.

“The strong confidence levels we’re seeing among lenders highlight the continued bounce back from one of the most challenging real estate and lending environments in U.S. history,” said Daniel T. Goldman, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Lenders One. “In an environment where lenders can once again focus on business growth initiatives, it will be more important than ever for mortgage professionals to have access to the tools and ongoing training they need to capitalize on these emerging trends.”

According to Frank Notaft, CoreLogic’s Chief Economist, The average age of a move-up or repeat buyer is 39 and in eight years, there will be about 4.2 million people who are potential repeat buyers of that age compared to 3.9 million at the present time.

The growth in households doubled in 2015 compared to 2014 from 700,000 to 1.6 million. However, the vast majority of those were rental homes and apartments. Over the coming seven to eight years, you can expect many of the Millennials to move into the home buying phase of their lives.

Survey Methodology

The Lenders One Mortgage Barometer was conducted online among a random sample of 200 mortgage lenders. Fieldwork was conducted by independent research firm Market Intel Group between January 4, 2016 and January 14, 2016. The margin of error associated with the sample of n=200 is +/- 6.9 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.

Lenders One (http://lendersone.com) was established in 2000 as a national alliance of independent mortgage bankers, correspondent lenders, and suppliers of mortgage products and services. Members of the St. Louis-based platform originated $200 billion in mortgages in 2014; collectively ranking as one of the largest retail mortgage origination entities in the U.S., Lenders One is managed by a subsidiary of Altisource Portfolio Solutions, S.A.

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Author bio: Brian Kline has been investing in real estate for more than 35 years and writing about real estate investing for seven years. He also draws upon 30 plus years of business experience including 12 years as a manager at Boeing Aircraft Company. Brian currently lives at Lake Cushman, Washington. A vacation destination, a few short miles from a national forest. In the Olympic Mountains with the Pacific Ocean a couple of miles in the opposite direction.