Arvest Mortgage Company announced Tuesday (Oct. 21) that it originated more than $1 billion in mortgage loans – both refinance and purchase money loans – through Sept. 30, 2014. Arvest said it had closed a total of 6,853 loans with combined loan value of $1,012,205,070 by Sept. 30 this year, marking the 12th consecutive year Arvest has reached this milestone.
Continuing the trend of the last two years, refinance loans declined while purchase money loans grew as a percentage of total mortgage loan volume. The mix between purchase money and refinance loans at Arvest has inverted since 2012.
This year new purchase loans accounted for 68% of the mortgage originations, while refinance applications made up 32% of the total volume volume. Conversely, just two years ago in 2012 new purchase were 33% of the market, compared to 67% being refinance applications.
“While the entire industry knew that refinances would continue to decline, we have been very pleased that our purchase money loans have remained strong and outpaced national projections. This indicates that consumers in our area are continuing to buy new homes and looking for local lenders to help them,” said Steven Plaisance, president and chief operating officer of Arvest Mortgage Company.
The overall volume and dollar value of purchase money loans made at Arvest have declined slightly from the same period a year ago, but this decline is less than the drop forecasted in September by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
As of Sept. 30, Arvest has made 4,591 purchase money loans with total loan value of $686,165,920. That compared to 5,006 new purchase loans worth $740,573,626 during the same period last year. Total values declined 8.3%, while volume lagged 7.3% year-over-year. The Mortgage Bankers Association forecasted a 13% decline in purchase money loan values nationally in 2014 compared to 2013.
Arvest said the average loan value it made this year increased from $147,937 to $149,459 over the same period last year, reflecting modest price improvement in the real estate market.