TMC BENCHMARK MARCH DATA: More relief for TMC! Production and Efficiency are on a steady incline month over month, and closings rose again by the same percentage. (You’re not seeing double)

TMC lender members saw a steep drop in their Cost Per Closed Loans for each system, and most significantly for Point-of-Sale systems. And while closed loans increase yet again in March by the same percentages, refinances hit an all-time low. TMC saw Production climb 10 units monthly since the start of 2023. Efficiency has increased for every position since 2023, with the biggest increase coming from closers. 

Closed loan units increased by 23% in March when compared to the month prior. Within that, lenders saw closed purchase loans increase and refinances dropped to a record low month over month. Refinances were 10% of all closings in March.
 
Here's the refinance share we've seen in TMC Benchmark through 2022 and 2023:
 
January 2022: 39%
February 2022: 37%
March 2022: 29%
April 2022: 24%
May 2022: 16%
June 2022: 14%
July 2022: 13%
August 2022: 13%
September 2022: 13%
October 2022: 13%
November 2022: 13%
December 2022: 12%
January 2023: 13%
February 2023: 11%
March 2023: 10%

The % of conventional closings also remained flat again in March at 66% (units). Historically, conventional loans have represented 75-76% of all closed loan units these past seven years. Government loan closings are steadily climbing, coming in at 28% of all closings yet again this month, far above the 18-20% ranges we’ve historically seen in TMC Benchmark.

New applications increased by just 4% in March from the previous month. Conventional loans remained flat at 64% of new app share.
​
Operational efficiency increased for all categories again in March. The number of closed loan units closed per full-time processor increased to 9.2, and closed loan units per full-time closer increased to 27 in March from 20.6 in February. Closed loan units per full-time underwriter rose to 22.8 in March from 16 in February. The average loan originator closed 3.1 units in March, also steadily climbing from 2.3 in February. LO comp came in at an average of 88 bps, down 1.6 basis points (bp) from last month's 89.6 total.

Average annual compensation paid to operational staff increased month-over-month, with average annual comp paid to FTE processors at $51,585 this month. Underwriter annual comp lowered slightly to $84,510. Average annual comp paid to closers also lowered slightly to $54,533.

The average "app date to clear to close date" increased to 35 this month. Let's look at how this number trended throughout the course of 2021 and 2022:

January '22 - 40.1
February '22 - 39.6
March '22 - 39.6
April '22 - 39.6
May ’22 – 42.3
June '22 – 39.7
July '22 – 39.2
August ’22 – 38.45
September ’22 – 38.93
October ’22 – 37.07
November ’22 – 40.7
December ’22 – 36.97
---
January ’23 – 38.33
February ’23 – 34.5
March ’23 – 35.1
​
The average cost per closed loan unit our members paid for their loan origination system (LOS) decreased in March to $173 from $230 the previous month. The average cost per closed loan unit for our members' point-of-sale (POS) system dropped $22.50 to $61 in March and dropped 6 bps to $90 for their CRM.  

Average non-third-party lender fees for conventional loans are up to $1,395 in March compared to $1,190 the previous month. Government lender fees rose slightly from $1,111 to $1,182 in this most recent month.

54.8% of this month's participants in TMC Benchmark were depositories, and 42.2% were IMBs. 43.8% originate under $500M a year in annual volume, 20.3% originate between $500M-$1B, and 35.9% originate over $1 billion per year in annual production.