ICE: Time to Close Falls 4th Straight Month

ICE Mortgage Technology, Pleasanton, Calif., issued its Origination Insight Report for April, showing average time to close on all loans fell for the fourth consecutive month to 51 days.

“The decrease in average time to close is not surprising, given the increase we have observed in the adoption of digital transformation tools, such as AIQ, our artificial intelligence offering that automates workflows for shifting to a more data-driven process and consumer engagement suite for automating communication to all parties in the transaction,” said Joe Tyrrell, president of ICE Mortgage Technology. “This trend also aligns with findings from our 2020 Borrower and Lender Insights Survey, in which both borrowers and lenders noted that digital mortgage technologies are making it faster and easier to close a mortgage loan, thus improving the overall experience for participants.”

The report also noted April marked the second consecutive month of slowdown in share of refinances among total originations. The percentage of refinances dropped to 56% of all closed loans in April, down from 63% in March. However, the percentage of purchases increased to 43% of total closed loans for April, up from 36% in March, reflecting the highest percentage since August 2020.