According to ATTOM’s Q1 2023 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report, just 1.25 million mortgages secured by residential property were originated in Q1 2023 – the lowest point since late-2000. The report noted that figure was down 19 percent from Q4 2022 – marking the eighth quarterly decrease in a row – and down 56 percent from Q1 2022, as well as 70 percent from a peak reached in Q1 2021.
The report also noted that lenders issued just $388 billion worth of residential mortgages in Q1 2023, down quarterly by 20 percent and annually by 58 percent. Also according to the report, overall lending activity included 595,253 loans granted to home purchasers in Q1 2023. That figure was down 19 percent from Q4 2022 and 44 percent from Q1 2022, to the lowest point since early 2014. The report noted the dollar volume of purchase mortgages dropped 18 percent quarterly and 45 percent annually, to $216 billion.
ATTOM’s latest report also found that overall lending activity decreased from Q4 2022 to Q1 2023 in 97 percent of the metro areas analyzed, among those with a population of 200,000 or more and at least 1,000 total residential mortgages issued in the first quarter. That figure was down annually in every one of those metro areas, while total lending activity dropped at least 15 percent quarterly in 63 percent of those metros analyzed.
The Q1 2023 report noted that the largest quarterly decreases were in Buffalo, NY (total lending down 47.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023); Albany, NY (down 46.4 percent); Toledo, OH (down 43.5 percent); Knoxville, TN (down 42.7 percent) and St. Louis, MO (down 39.1 percent).
ATTOM’s first-quarter mortgage origination analysis also found that the median amount borrowed nationwide by home buyers rose slightly in Q1 2023, while typical down payments as a percentage of purchase prices dropped for the third straight quarter. Among homes purchased with financing in Q1 2023, the median loan amount was $304,000, up 1.4 percent from $299,750 in the prior quarter, but down annually by 2.6 percent, from $312,000.
According to the analysis, median down payment of $26,250 on single-family homes purchased with financing in Q1 2023 was down 16 percent from $31,250 in Q1 2022. With home prices dropping in most of the country, the typical down payment also decreased as a percentage of the median purchase price, representing 7.5 percent of the median price in Q1 2023 – down from 8.9 percent in the prior quarter and 8.6 percent a year earlier.
In this post, we take a deep data dive into the data behind the latest ATTOM mortgage origination report to uncover the top 10 U.S. housing markets with the greatest median down payments in Q1 2023. Those top markets include: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($360,000); San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA ($239,750); Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA ($174,000); Boulder, CO ($171,135); Santa Rosa, CA ( $154,875); Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA ($147,000); San Diego-Carlsbad, CA ($146,000); Barnstable Town, MA ($130,000); Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, FL ($130,000); and Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA ($120,807).
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