REFINANCING DRIVES STRONG FOURTH QUARTER FOR HOME LENDING

$627.3 billion in loans, up 1 percent quarterly and 4 percent annually;
Refinancing accounted for 42.6 percent of all loans, more than purchasing

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ATTOM, the leading provider of property data, AI-powered analytics, and real estate intelligence solutions, today released its Q4 2025 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report, which shows that 1.72 million mortgages secured by residential property (1 to 4 units) were issued in the fourth quarter of 2025. That marked a 6 percent decrease from the previous quarter but was level with the number of loans originated at the same time last year.

The total dollar value of fourth quarter 2025 loans—$627.3 billion—was 1 percent higher than the prior quarter’s total and 4 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2024.

The number and total value of home purchase loans issued was down quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year but refinancing loans surged, accounting for a greater share of loan originations than purchase loans for the first time in nearly four years.

“Loans, particularly for new purchases, typically slow down in the fourth quarter as fewer people are buying houses,” said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “But this year, that seasonal slowdown was offset by a rise in refinancing, likely driven by the steady drop in mortgage rates, which have been some of the lowest we’ve seen since 2022.”

Overall lending up quarterly and annually
There were 1,719,362 mortgage loans issued in the fourth quarter of 2025, a 6 percent drop from the 1,826,668 loans issued in the third quarter, but essentially level with the fourth quarter of 2024. In dollar volume, the fourth quarter’s $627.3 billion total was 1 percent higher than the previous quarter and 4 percent higher than the same quarter last year.

The number of mortgages increased quarter-over-quarter in 29.1 percent (60) of the 206 metropolitan statistical areas with sufficient data to analyze, meaning they had populations over 200,000 and at least 1,000 loans issued in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Among metros with populations over 1 million, the largest quarterly gains in the number of loan originations came in San Jose, CA (up 27.8 percent); San Francisco, CA (up 13.9 percent); San Diego, CA (up 12.8 percent); Los Angeles, CA (up 11.1 percent); and Tucson, AZ (up 7.6 percent).

Of those largest metros, the largest quarterly declines in loans came in Buffalo, NY (down 47.9 percent); Austin, TX (down 46.1 percent); Rochester, NY (down 36.7 percent); Atlanta, GA (down 34.3 percent); and Pittsburgh, PA (30.3 percent).

Double digit drops for home purchase mortgages
The 685,583 mortgages issued for home purchases in the fourth quarter of 2025 marked a 14 percent drop from the prior quarter’s 801,275 loans and a 13 percent drop from the same quarter last year. In terms of dollar volume, purchase loans totaled $278.1 billion in the fourth quarter, down 14 percent quarter-over-quarter and down 10 percent year-over-year.

Purchase loans made up 39.9 percent of all loans issued in the final quarter of the year, down from 43.9 percent in the third quarter and 45.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Purchase lending declined quarter-over-quarter in 89.8 percent (185) of the 206 metro areas analyzed. Among markets with populations over 1 million, the largest declines were in Austin, TX (down 58.4 percent); Buffalo, NY (down 46.8 percent); Atlanta, GA (down 45.8 percent); Rochester, NY (down 42.8 percent); and Detroit, MI (down 38.2 percent).

The only large metros with quarterly gains were Tucson, AZ (up 8.8 percent); Los Angeles, CA (up 2.2 percent); and Orlando, FL (up 1.6 percent).

Refinancing accounts for largest share of lending activity
There were 732,615 refinancing loan originations in the fourth quarter of 2025, a 6 percent increase from the previous quarter and up 11 percent from the same time last year. Those fourth quarter refinancing loans were worth a total of $289.1 billion, a 25 percent increase over the prior quarter and 21 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2024.

Refinancing loans accounted for 42.6 percent of all loans, up from 37.8 percent the previous quarter and 38.3 percent at the same time last year. It was the first time refinancing loans have accounted for a greater share of all loans than purchase loans since the first quarter of 2022.

The number of refinancing loans rose quarter-over-quarter in 69.4 percent (143) of the 206 metro areas analyzed. Among metros with populations over 1 million, the biggest increases in refinancing loans came in San Jose, CA (up 91.1 percent); San Francisco, CA (up 50.4 percent); San Diego, CA (up 49.4 percent); Seattle, WA (up 46.1 percent); and Portland, OR (up 36.5 percent).

Home equity loans up year-over-year
The fourth quarter of 2025 recorded 301,164 home-equity line of credit (HELOC) loans, down 10 percent from the previous quarter but up 9 percent year-over-year.

HELOC loans accounted for 17.5 percent of all loans, down from 18.3 percent the prior quarter and up from 16 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The number of HELOC loans declined quarter over quarter in 75.7 percent (156) of the 206 metro analyzed. Among metros with populations over 1 million, the largest quarterly drops in number of HELOCs issued were in Austin, TX (down 57.3 percent); Buffalo, NY (down 51.4 percent); Virginia Beach, VA (down 42.5 percent); Richmond, VA (down 35.7 percent); and Detroit, MI (down 33.4 percent).

Government lending holds steady
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) backed loans accounted for 11.4 percent of all loans in the fourth quarter of 2025, down from 14.1 percent the prior quarter and 15.3 fourth quarter last year. Veterans Administration (VA) loans made up 7.4 percent of all loans, up from 5.7 the prior quarter and 6.6 percent last year. And construction loans were 1.1 percent of all loans, the same as the previous quarter and down from 2.1 percent last year.

Despite the minor decrease, FHA and VA mortgage programs remain critical in supporting first-time buyers and military veterans amid affordability challenges and limited inventory. These programs, along with construction lending, continue to help sustain the housing market by offering accessible financing options and enabling homeownership opportunities across the U.S.

Mortgage Rate Drops Sustain End-of-Year Lending
Mortgage rates during the fourth quarter of 2025 were some of the lowest the nation has seen since 2022. That helped drive an increase in refinancing loans, which accounted for a greater share of all loans than home purchase loans for the first time since Q1 2022.

Report methodology
ATTOM analyzed recorded mortgage and deed of trust data for single-family homes, condos, town homes and multi-family properties of two to four units for this report. Each recorded mortgage or deed of trust was counted as a separate loan origination. Dollar volume was calculated by multiplying the total number of loan originations by the average loan amount for those loan originations.

About ATTOM 
ATTOM delivers AI-driven property intelligence built on one of the nation’s most trusted property data assets, covering 158 million U.S. properties—99% of the population. Our engineered, multi-sourced real estate data spans property tax, deeds, mortgages, foreclosure, environmental risk, property conditions, natural hazards, neighborhood insights, and geospatial boundaries, rigorously validated for advanced analytics. ATTOM supports analytics and AI-driven applications through flexible delivery options including APIs, bulk licensing, cloud delivery, market trend products, and the MCP Server for AI-powered, agentic access to engineered property data—enabling organizations to automate analysis and scale property intelligence across industries.

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SOURCE ATTOM