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THE COMPANY

In May, Ellie Mae launched a new, innovative tracking tool designed to give lenders insight into the latest and largest generation of homebuyers, Millennials. The Millennial Tracker is designed to provide lenders with specific data on closed loan application trends for homebuyers born between 1980 and 1999.

Joe Tyrrell, executive vice president of corporate strategy for Ellie Mae, said the online tool was developed to help better serve Millennials who are seeking to buy a home in the future.

“The mortgage industry is poised to experience a monumental shift as more Millennial homebuyers begin to enter the market. There are roughly 87 million would-be homebuyers in the Millennial generation and 91% of them say they intend to own a home one day. Lenders must prepare today to meet their needs.”

The tracker is updated with new data on the first Monday of each month. Searches can be sorted and filtered by various demographic data, such as geography, age, gender, marital status, FICO score and even amortization type. The data used in the tracker is from a sample of 66% of all closed mortgages going back to 2014 that were initiated on Ellie Mae’s Encompass-all-in-one mortgage management solution.

Ellie Mae designed the tracker as a supplement to its monthly Origination Insight Report, which focuses on loans closed in a specific month and compares them to similar loan closures from three to six months earlier.

The Millennial Tracker provides lenders with valuable insights concerning Millennial home purchasing, such as the number of FHA loans versus conventional loans, and average loan amounts based on demographics like gender, age, and marital status. Having data like this at a lender’s fingertips allow them to see who their customers are and what they need from lenders.

Tyrrell said the Federal Housing Authority, which insures mortgage loans made by banks and other private lenders, is still playing a significant role in helping Millennials become homeowners.

“These types of loans make up 37% of all closed loans to this generation, compared to just 23% of closed loans across all generations of homebuyers,” Tyrrell said.

Millennial Tracker data from January to August 2016 shows the average loan amount for Millennials is $182,092 and the average number of days to close is 45.

According to the same data set, the home-buying age falls on the older end of the age spectrum for Millennials. The average age of a female Millennial borrower is 29 and the average age of  a male Millennial borrower is 29.3.

The deep dive into Millennial data, in combination with Ellie Mae’s Origination Insight Report, gives lenders a clear, concise picture of the mortgage lending environment and how it’s trending on a monthly basis.

“We view the Millennial Tracker as an opportunity to give our lenders insights into what Millennials are doing, the products they are leveraging and where they are buying. This helps our customers set their strategy and market to this diverse population with the largest potential purchase power.”

THE EXECUTIVE

Joe Tyrrell, EVP, Corporate Strategy

Joe Tyrrell has served as Ellie Mae’s executive vice president of corporate strategy since March 2015, overseeing its product strategy, product management and  business and corporate development efforts involving the company’s network of current and potential business partners and merger and acquisition strategies.

Tyrrell has been with the company since 2002 and previously held the positions of senior vice president of corporate strategy from May 2014 to March 2015 and senior vice president of client management and business development from August 2013 to March 2014.