Power Up Your Mortgage Marketing [MeridianLink Sponsored Content]

In today’s housing market, both opportunity and volatility exist. Economic signals are mixed: CPI is increasing moderately, but we’re not at The Fed’s 2% target; rates are historically average, yet elevated from 2020-2022; inventory is up, affordability is tight, and sellers are asking for prices like it’s 2022, while buyers expect to pay what they did in 2008. Still, structural demand persists, mostly driven by life events, demographic shifts, and improved buyer sentiment.  

Now, with the Rocket-Redfin merger potentially altering how buyers search, shop, and secure financing, mortgage lenders must sharpen their borrower targeting strategies to win. This article breaks down who today’s most likely homebuyers are, where they live or are moving, and how lenders can use these insights to gain market share in an evolving landscape.

Before you can attract more borrowers, are macroeconomic tailwinds in your favor?

If you think the mortgage market is too soft to support your mortgage business’s growth, these data points may surprise you.  

For example, originations are climbing. In 2024, originations hit $1.69 trillion, a 12.9% year-over-year increase, and early 2025 is off to a strong start with originations up 9.4%.  

Meanwhile, home prices are down 4% nationally from their peak, inventory is the highest since January 2020, and seller activity is outpacing buyers by 34%.

More importantly to your mortgage business, homebuyer composition is shifting toward financed transactions. Cash purchases dropped from 32% in January 2024 to 25% in April 2025 while 96% of those aged 25–43 and 86% of those aged 44 to 58 financed their purchases. 

Meanwhile, the spread between the 10-year Treasury yield and mortgage rates remains unusually wide—currently about 249 basis points. This gap suggests there’s room for mortgage rates to decline if spreads return to more typical levels, even if the Federal Reserve leaves its benchmark rate unchanged. In other words, we could see some rate relief regardless of what the Fed does next. It’s also worth remembering that a Fed rate cut doesn’t automatically translate to lower mortgage rates. Just look back to the third quarter of 2024, when the Fed reduced rates yet both the 10-year Treasury yield and mortgage rates moved higher.

In short, despite negative headlines, this isn’t just a market weighed down by headwinds. It’s a market with overlooked tailwinds that could create real opportunities for forward-thinking mortgage lenders. Now may be the right moment to position for what’s ahead.

But before you can effectively reach borrowers, you need to understand who those borrowers are today.

Right now, the majority—about 80%—are super-prime, meaning they qualify for the best rates and terms. All generations are active in the market, but baby boomers have once again emerged as the largest homebuying segment, accounting for 42% of purchases in June 2025. Millennials follow at 29%, with Gen X making up 24%.

Interestingly, millennials continue to build momentum in the housing market despite holding just 9.4% of total U.S. wealth. More than half already own homes, and their collective wealth has grown by 49% since 2019. Even more striking, younger millennials and older Gen Zers saw their median wealth quadruple between 2019 and 2022, setting the stage for a new wave of first-time buyers.

At the same time, the average homebuyer is now 56— an all-time high. While most first-time buyers fall between 26 and 34 years old, making up about 71% of that group, the overall market is increasingly driven by buyers aged 39 and older. Income plays a big role too: households earning between $100,000 and $124,999, as well as those making $200,000 or more, represent the largest share of new mortgage activity.

When it comes to what’s motivating people to buy, 75% of Americans believe homeownership is part of the American Dream. Many also see it as an important life goal and consider it essential for building long-term wealth. As for timing, nearly half of buyers said their main reason for purchasing was simply that it felt like the right time to buy a home.

Where are borrowers living and moving? 

While broad national strategies have their place, savvy lenders know that location targeting is crucial for meaningful borrower engagement. Suburbs continue to attract the largest share of buyers across all age groups, making up 45% of home purchases.

A closer look at regional trends reveals some key opportunities: 

• Millennial Movers: Cities drawing the most millennial buyers include Alexandria, VA; Cambridge, MA; Denver, CO; Sandy Springs, GA; Seattle, WA; Sunnyvale, CA; Santa Clara, CA; Arlington, VA; Austin, TX; and Orlando, FL.

• 65+ Population Hot Spots: States with the largest share of residents aged 65 and older—19.5% or more compared to the national average of 17.7%—include Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, Florida, New Mexico, Montana, and Oregon.

• First-Time Buyer Markets: Harrisburg, PA; Rochester, NY; Villas, FL; Lauderdale Lakes, FL; Altamonte Springs, FL; Lansing, MI; North Little Rock, AR; Baltimore, MD; Tonawanda, NY; and Wilmington, DE top the list of promising markets for purchase-focused outreach.

These examples highlight an important reality: different borrower segments tend to cluster in specific regions, and lenders who align their messaging and outreach to these local patterns will stand out. The fundamentals for growth are in place—what you need now is sharper, more precise borrower targeting to turn potential into performance.

How can you best reach these borrowers? 

• Get granular with geography 
Use tools like HMDA data, USPS migration trends, and insights from your own LOS to identify your next best markets. If your lending footprint includes growth areas like Austin, Denver, or Harrisburg, align your campaigns and outreach to match local demand.

• Segment by life stage and intent 
First-time homebuyers—primarily aged 26–44 are highly likely to need financing. In fact, more than 95% of this group used a mortgage loan for their home purchase. Meanwhile, Gen X and Boomers are increasingly repeat buyers, often driven by life changes like retirement, downsizing, or health considerations.

• Speak to real motivators 
Borrowers are buying because of life events: marriage, growing families, job relocations. And over 51% of millennials say they’re still buying to achieve the American Dream. Tap into that emotion, not just the math. 

• Reconnect at the right time 
Data shows that buyers expect to stay 8–10 years but often move after just 4–5. Lenders who track tenure and re-engage past borrowers around year 4 are positioned to win the next deal. 

• Modernize the experience  
With digital-first players like Redfin and Rocket offering fully integrated online journeys, traditional lenders must close the experience gap—or risk losing borrowers who expect speed and simplicity. A modern mortgage platform like MeridianLink^® Mortgage can help you deliver the seamless, flexible, borrower-friendly experience today’s market demands. 

This means:

• Mobile-first engagement: Give borrowers the ability to start and complete applications, upload documents, and track progress entirely from their phones.

• Language preferences: Offer multi-language support to better serve diverse communities and expand your reach among fast-growing multilingual homebuyer segments.

• Automated underwriting and self-serve tools: Automate prequalification’s and underwriting steps to speed up approvals and reduce friction. Give borrowers secure self-service portals to update information, sign disclosures, upload documents, and track progress on their own schedule. This hands borrowers more control over their home loan journey while freeing your loan officers to focus on higher-value relationships instead of repetitive paperwork.

• Fully integrated workflows: Eliminate data silos by connecting your LOS, POS, PPE, and other steps—such as verification, title, appraisal, and e-signature—into one seamless, streamlined platform. This can cut cycle times, reduces friction for both borrowers and staff, and accelerates the experience from application to close.

The key is—target smarter. 

Rocket and Redfin may now own the most visible front door to home buying, but local lenders still hold the keys to service, speed, and personalization. By targeting the right borrowers, in the right places, with messaging that reflects real needs and life stages, lenders can gain meaningful ground. 

The market is not only open, it’s accelerating. Now is the time to power up your mortgage marketing and your mortgage technology. 

Discover how MeridianLink^® Mortgage is helping lenders target smarter, act faster, and win more borrowers over with an application experience designed with you in mind. https://www.meridianlink.com/products/mortgage-software/

(Sponsored content includes material submitted independently of the Mortgage Bankers Association and MBA NewsLink and does not connote an MBA endorsement of a specific company, product or service. For more information about sponsored content opportunities, contact Bill Farmakis at bill@jlfarmakis.com or 203/834-8832.)