A greater share of millennial women leveraged Federal Housing Administration loans than millennial men, Ellie Mae found in its latest Millennial Tracker report.
Forty-one percent of single millennial women primary homebuyers utilized an FHA loan versus 38% of single men, Ellie Mae reported Tuesday. Amongst married millennial women primary homebuyers, 35% used FHA loans as compared with 28% of married men.
Overall, 39% of millennial women selected FHA loans in December, while 32% of millennial men did.
"While life events such as marriage or starting a family often influence borrowers' decisions to purchase a home, others see homeownership as an opportunity to build equity," said Joe Tyrrell, executive vice president of corporate strategy at Ellie Mae. "As a result, we saw many single female borrowers pursue homeownership in 2016."
FICO scores on all closed loans for millennials averaged 724. Millennials refinancing a loan had an average score of 748, while those getting a purchase loan had an average score of 746 in December.
Geographically, Ellie Mae found that millennials were more likely to purchase homes in the middle of the country. Jasper, Ind., Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Odessa, Texas, and Owensboro, Ky., had the highest share of millennial borrowers, with 59% or more of all closed mortgage loans. In terms of the largest metropolitan areas nationwide, Houston and St. Louis had the highest shares of millennial borrowers.
