For the fourth consecutive month, lenders were able to speed up times to close, as timelines start to near pre-pandemic processing times.
In April, the average days to close fell to 51; it was 52 days in March, according to ICE Mortgage Technology’s latest Origination Insight Report. That still remains higher than a year ago when the average was 42 days.
Purchase mortgages showed the most improvement with closing times. The average time it took for a borrower to close on a home purchase was 49 days in April, down from 51 days in March.
“The decrease in average time to close is not surprising, given the increase we have observed in the adoption of digital transformation tools,” says Joe Tyrrell, ICE president. “Digital mortgage technologies are making it faster and easier to close a mortgage loan, thus improving the overall experience for participants.”
Closing times for refinances increased to 53 days in April, up from 39 days a year earlier. Lower mortgage rates have set off a wave of homeowners rushing to take advantage in lowering their monthly payments, creating some clogged processing pipelines.
