In Q1 of 2025, 1.4 million mortgages were secured by residential property (1–4 units) in the U.S., according to ATTOM‘s Q1 2025 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report. As the number of new loans continues to decline, that represented an approximate 14% drop from the previous quarter.
New home financing arrangements have fallen back below pre-pandemic levels after reaching a recent peak of about 4.2 million loans each quarter in early 2021. An estimated 20% decline in home purchase loans, which went from 738,675 in Q4 of 2024 to 593,111 in Q1 of 2025, was the main cause of the most recent decline. In the same quarter, home equity credit lines decreased 5% to 260,267, while the number of residential property refinances decreased by 12% to 580,170.
“The red-hot housing market we’ve seen over the last few years meant that most home loans were going toward new purchases, but that appears to be changing,” said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. “Rather than borrowing money to buy a new property, the data shows homeowners are increasingly looking to restructure their existing mortgages or borrow equity from their homes to cover other expenses.”
From $582 billion in Q4 of 2024 to $478 billion in Q1 of 2025, the total dollar value of loans decreased by 18%, reflecting a drop in both the average loan amount and the number of borrowers. This is partly because the composition of the credit market is changing. Home purchase loans, which made up over half of all mortgages as recently as the fall of 2023, now make up 41.4% of the market, a decrease of 2.8 percentage points from Q4 of 2024. In the meantime, the share of home equity line of credit and mortgage refinance deals—which are typically smaller—has increased to 18.2% and 40.5% of the market, respectively.
“If the current trend continues, mortgage refinancing deals will soon make up the biggest share of the home loan market,” Barber said.
Quarterly Refis Slip But Uphold Steady Market Share
In Q1 of 2025, there were 580,170 mortgage refinance loans nationwide, a 12.2% decrease from 661,067 in Q4 of 2024. However, the number of refinance loans increased 16.1% from the previous year. In ATTOM’s survey, approximately 82.9% (160) of the 193 metro areas saw a decline in the number of refinanced mortgages from quarter-to-quarter.
The metro areas with the biggest quarterly declines in refinancings were:
- San Jose, CA (-41.6%)
- Reno, NV (-38%)
- Bend, OR (-35.1%)
- San Francisco, CA (-34.2%)
- Huntsville, AL (-33.8%)
The metro areas with the largest increase in refinancings compared to Q4 2024 were:
- Lubbock, Texas (+70.4%)
- North Port-Sarasota, FL (+52.6%)
- McAllen, Texas (+49%)
- Brownsville, Texas (+48.3%)
- Asheville, NC (+46.7%)
The metro regions with populations over one million that experienced the largest quarterly fall in refinance packages, aside from San Jose and San Francisco, were: St. Louis (-29.9%); Raleigh, NC (-24.6%); and Boston (-23.7%).
Only three of those biggest metro areas experienced an increase in mortgage refinances between Q4 of 2024 and Q1 of 2025: Orlando, Florida (+1.6%), Miami (+5%), and Tampa, FL (+39.8%).
New Home Loans See Rapid Decline in Some U.S. Metros
Across the nation, mortgage industry activity has slowed, with lending expanding only in a few major metro regions. Some 93% (180) of the 193 metro statistical areas in ATTOM’s survey with populations of 200,000 or more and at least 1,000 residential mortgages issued in Q1 of 2025 saw a quarterly decline in the number of issued mortgages.
In contrast to the same period last year, a large portion of the nation saw greater loans in the most recent quarter, despite the recent decline. In 73.6% (142) of the 193 metro areas, the overall number of mortgages rose from the previous year.
The largest quarterly decreases were in:
- Duluth, MN (-35.6%)
- Fort Wayne, IN (-34.6%)
- Greeley, CO (-34.1%)
- St. Louis (-31.8%)
- Anchorage, AK (-31.5%)
The metro areas with the largest quarter-over-quarter growth in loans were:
- Asheville, NC (+24.1%)
- Cape Coral, FL (+23.1%)
- North Port-Sarasota, FL (+21.7%)
- Brownsville, Texas (+21.2%)
- Tampa, FL (+17.8%)
The value of homebuying mortgages fell an estimated 20.1% from $293 billion to $234 billion, while the number of mortgages issued nationwide decreased 19.7% from quarter-to-quarter. That was less than half of the most recent peak, which was reached in mid-2021 with 1.6 million purchase loans for $540 billion. According to ATTOM’s survey of Q1 of 2025, mortgages for home purchases decreased quarterly in 94.8% (183) of the 193 metro regions.
The metro areas with the biggest quarter-over-quarter declines in loans for purchases were:
- Greeley, CO (-68%)
- Anchorage, AK (-67.3%)
- Fort Wayne, IN (-54.7%)
- Duluth, MN (-46.8%)
- Lubbock, Texas (-44.9%)
The metro areas with the greatest growth compared to last quarter were:
- Yuma, AZ (+35.5%)
- Cape Coral, FL (+28.5%)
- Asheville, NC (+0.9%)
- North Port-Sarasota, FL (+6.4%)
- Colorado Springs, CO (+6%)
The number of home purchase loans increased quarterly just in two of those largest metro regions. Tucson, AZ, saw a 3.9%, while Tampa, FL saw an estimated 4% gain.
Among metro areas with populations over 1 million, the biggest quarterly declines in loans for home purchases were in:
- Austin, Texas (-38.5%)
- St. Louis (-37.8%)
- Rochester, NY (-36.6%)
- Houston, Texas (-35.7%)
- Indianapolis (-33.5%)
While government changes continue and looming economic concerns persist, in Q1 of 2025, 227,159 Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed loans were granted by lenders. That was up 2.6% year-over-year but down 8.8% from the prior quarter. From 14.9 to 15.8%, the proportion of all home loans that are FHA-backed increased from quarter-to-quarter.
There were only 78,862 loans backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). That was 8.4% higher year-over-year but 27.2% lower than Q4 of 2024. In Q1 of 2025, VA-backed loans made up 5.5% of all loans.
Further, across the country, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) experienced the least decline. Between the first quarter of 2025 and Q4 of 2024, they fell 4.5%, from 272,535 to 260,267. However, that was 13.9% higher than it was in Q1 of the previous year. In 61.7% (119) of the 193 metro regions in ATTOM’s survey, the number of HELOCs decreased from quarter-to-quarter.
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