Mortgage Industry Making a Comeback

Maybe the mortgage industry is back on the mend. A recent release from loan processing software developer Ellie Mae seems to corroborate with a Reuters story picked up by BS&T which says jobs in the mortgage lending space are on the rise relative to other areas in banking.Ellie Mae says during the first full week of 2009, a record-breaking number of new mortgage applications were originated through its Encompass Mortgage Management Solution and its ePASS Network, a residential mortgage transaction platform. On January 6 and January 7, 30,500 new loan applications passed through the Encompass LOS each day, providing evidence of a significant spike in overall mortgage transactions, according to Ellie Mae.

"This surge in activity is the result of the Fed's latest drop in interest rates, as well as pent-up demand, and continues the upswing in refinance activity we saw during the latter part of 2008," said Jonathan Corr, chief strategy officer for Ellie Mae, in a statement. "December's typically a very soft month because of the holidays and the end of the year, but this past December we saw transactions increase over 50 percent from November, in all areas, including credit, title and lender submissions."

Granted, this is one anecdotal example, but it presents a glimmer of hope too. So the plummeting interest rates are finally showing some good results on the lending side. However, it doesn't do much for those of us who want a decent rate on a CD!