Ellie Mae Releases August 2012 Origination Insight Report

Ellie Mae Releases August 2012 Origination Insight Report

As Interest Rates Continued to Decline, Both Closing Rates and Time to Close Increased in August

PLEASANTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ellie Mae^® (NYS: ELLI) , a leading provider of enterprise-level, on-demand automated solutions for the residential mortgage industry, today released its Origination Insight Report for August 2012. The report draws its data and insights from a robust sampling of the significant volume of loan applications—more than 20% of all originations in the United States—that flow through Ellie Mae's Encompass360^® mortgage management software and Ellie Mae Network™.

MONTHLY ORIGINATION OVERVIEW FOR AUGUST 2012

*All references to months should be read as month ended.

PROFILES OF CLOSED AND DENIED LOANS FOR AUGUST 2012

More information and analysis of closed and denied loans by loan purpose and investor are available in the full report athttp://www.elliemae.com/aboutus/about_reports.asp.

To get a meaningful view of lender "pull-through," Ellie Mae reviewed a sampling of loan applications initiated 90 days prior (i.e., the May applications) to calculate a closing rate for August 2012, which was 47.8%, compared to 45.8% in July 2012 (see full report).

"The 30-year note rates on closed loans continued to decline, dropping from 3.870% in July to 3.763% in August 2012. August's rate was down nearly 100 basis points from the same time last year and the lowest point since we began tracking," said Jonathan Corr, chief operating officer of Ellie Mae. "The percentage of ARMs also continued its decline to 2.7% in August 2012, the lowest point since we began tracking in August 2011, when the percentage of ARMs was 8.3%."

"The closing rate for purchase loans increased for the fourth month in a row, from 58.7% in July to 60.1% in August," he said. "The closing rate for refinances also increased, from 37.9% in July to 40.9% in August, and the time to close these refinances grew from 48 to 51 days."

"The percentage of refinances at 95%-plus LTV dropped for the third consecutive month, from 10.2% in June and 8.7% in July to 7.74% in August, a possible sign that HARP 2.0 continues to be cooling off, which is in line with what the Federal Housing Finance Agency has been reporting," Corr added.

About Ellie Mae Origination Insight Report

In 2011, the total volume of mortgages that ran through Ellie Mae's Encompass360 mortgage management software was approximately two million loan applications, or 20% of all U.S. mortgage originations. The Origination Insight Report mines its application data from a robust sampling of approximately 33% of all mortgage applications that were initiated on the Encompass origination platform. Given the size of this sample and Ellie Mae's market share, the Company believes the Origination Insight Report is a strong proxy of the underwriting standards that are being employed by lenders across the country.

The Origination Insight Report focuses on loans that closed or were denied in a specific month and compares their characteristics to similar loans that closed or were denied three and six months earlier. The closing rate is calculated on a 90-day cycle rather than on a monthly basis because most loan applications typically take one and a half to two months from application to closing. Loans that do not close could still be active applications, or applications withdrawn by consumers or denied for incompleteness or nonqualification.

The Origination Insight Report details aggregated, anonymized data and does not disclose client-specific or proprietary information.

News organizations have the right to reuse this data, provided that Ellie Mae, Inc., is credited as the source.

About Ellie Mae

Ellie Mae, Inc. is a leading provider of on-demand automation solutions for the mortgage industry. The Company offers an end-to-end solution, delivered using a Software-as-a-Service model that serves as the core operating system for mortgage originators and spans customer relationship management, loan origination and business management. The Company also hosts the Ellie Mae Network™ that allows Encompass^® users to electronically conduct business transactions with the lenders and settlement service providers they work with to process and fund loans. The Company's offerings include the Encompass, Encompass360^® and DataTrac^® mortgage management software systems.

Ellie Mae was founded in 1997 and is based in Pleasanton, California. To learn more about Ellie Mae, visit www.EllieMae.com or call 877.355.4362.

© 2012 Ellie Mae, Inc. Ellie Mae^®, Encompass^®, Encompass360^®, DataTrac^®, Ellie Mae Network™ and the Ellie Mae logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Ellie Mae, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Other company and product names may be trademarks or copyrights of their respective owners.

Campbell Lewis Communications
Bill Campbell, 212-995-8057
bill@campbelllewis.com

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