Refinancing continued to hold its ground during September, rising from 43 percent of all loan originations in August to 45 percent.  Ellie Mae's Origination Insight Report for the month noted that the refinancing share rose one or two points for all loan types and made up 56 percent of conventional originations. The share of total originations for each loan type held steady for the month with conventional loans having a 68 percent share, FHA getting 20 percent and VA loans 9 percent.

The average time to close all loans increased to 48 days in September, up from 46 days in August and the longest timeline since January. The time to close a purchase increased to 47 days while the time to close a refinance increased to 50 days, the most since August 2015. Most of the change was attributable to conventional loans; the time to close both refinances and purchase loans increased by three days.

Closing or lender pull-through rates for all loans decreased slightly to 71.8 percent in September, down from 72.3 percent in August. Refinance closing rates declined to 66.4 percent from 67.1 percent, and purchase closing rates held steady at 76.4 percent. Ellie Mae bases its closing rates on a sampling of loan applications initiated 90 days earlier, in this case the June 2016 applications.

FICO scores held steady in September with average FICO score of 731. Conventional purchase FICO scores were also unchanged at 754, and conventional refinance FICO scores remained at an average of 747. The overall loan-to-value (LTV) ratio fell to 78.

"Refinance activity continued into September, representing 45 percent of closed loans in the month," said Jonathan Corr, president and CEO of Ellie Mae. "We believe that given the volume of refinances during the month, it is not surprising that the average time to close would increase slightly from the month prior. While all loans increased from 46 days in August to 48 days in September, the average time to close a refinance increased to 50 days, which is the most we've seen in over a year."

The Origination Insight Report mines its application data from a sampling of approximately 75 percent of all mortgage applications that were initiated it its mortgage management system.