NRZ - Mortgage lock volume declines in May with refi locks falling the most: Black Knight

Mortgage rates plateaued in May, but overall mortgage lock rate volume continued to decline from April. Total lock volumes dropped 4.8%, with monthly declines in both rate/term (-23.6%) and cash-out (-11.9%) refinancings. "The month's data shows a market struggling under the weight of significantly higher rates than Americans have enjoyed for the better part of the last three years. We've seen rate/term refinance activity essentially evaporate and cash-out activity is now suffering as well," said Scott Happ, president of Optimal Blue, a division of Black Knight. Purchase volumes are now driving 82% of all origination activity, he said, making lenders more reliant on the purchase market for origination volumes than they have been in 20 years. "Meanwhile, the trifecta of low inventory, high prices, and climbing rates that has created the least affordable housing market in 16 years continues to create headwinds for precisely that segment," Happ said. By dollar

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Mortgage lock volume declines in May, with refi locks falling the most: Black Knight