ICE: Technology Helping Bring Closing Times Back Down

June 8, 2021

The time to close on a mortgage decreased for the fourth consecutive month, according to the latest report from ICE Mortgage Technology.

ICE reported the average time to close all loan types declined to 51 days during April. This was down from 54 days compared to October 2020. Despite the decline, the time to close is still taking nine days longer compared to 42 days in April 2020.

According to the report, it took 49 days to close on a purchase. This was down from 51 days in March, but up from 46 days in April 2020. Meanwhile, it took 53 days to close a refinance in April. This was down one day compared to March, but still up two weeks compared to April 2020.

“The decrease in average time to close is not surprising, given the increase we have observed in the adoption of digital transformation tools,” said Joe Tyrrell, president of ICE Mortgage Technology. “This trend also aligns with findings from our 2020 Borrower and Lender Insights Survey, in which both borrowers and lenders noted that digital mortgage technologies are making it faster and easier to close a mortgage loan, thus improving the overall experience for participants.”

The report also showed that April was the second consecutive month of slowdown in share of refinances among total originations. The percentage of refinances dropped to 56% of all closed loans in April, down from 63% in March. However, the percentage of purchases increased to 43% of total closed loans for the month of April, up from 36% in March, reflecting the highest percentage since August 2020.


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