Mortgage Application Volume Nearly as Flat as Rates

Therernwas virtually no change in the overall volume of mortgage applications duringrnthe week ended August 7 compared to the previous week, mirroring similarrnweek-over-week movement in interest rates. A decline in applications forrnpurchase mortgages virtually wiped out the small uptick in those forrnrefinancing.</p

ThernMortgage Bankers Association’s Market Composite Index, a measure of loanrnapplication volume, increased a scant 0.1 percent on a seasonally adjustedrnbasis from the week ended July 31 but was down 1.0 percent whenrnunadjusted.  The Refinancing Index, returnedrnroughly to its May levels, rising 3 percent from the previous week.  The share of refinancing increased byrnslightly less than 2 percentage points to 53.1 percent, the largest share sincernApril.  </p

Bothrnthe seasonally adjusted and unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 4 percent comparedrnwith the previous week.  The unadjustedrnPurchase Index was 20 percent higher than the same week one year ago.rn</p

Refinance Index vs 30 Yr Fixed</p

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Purchase Index vs 30 Yr Fixed</p

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ThernFHA share of total applications decreased to 13.3 percent from 13.8 percent thernweek prior and the VA share was up to 11.3 percent from 10.5 percent.  Applications for USDA mortgages dipped 0.1rnpercentage point to 0.7 percent. </p

Contractrninterest rates for fixed rates loans were mixed, moving modestly if atrnall.  The average contract interest raternfor 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRM) with conforming loan balances ($417,000rnor less) was unchanged at 4.13 percent. rnPoints did ease back to 0.31 from 0.34, bringing the effective raternlower.rn</p

Thernrate for jumbo FRM (balances greater than $417,000) was also unchanged,rnremaining at 4.08 percent.  Pointsrnincreased to 0.34 from 0.27 so the effective rate did rise.</p

FHArnbacked FRM had an average contract rate of 3.94 percent, down 2 basis pointsrnfrom the previous week.  Points werernunchanged at 0.22 and the effective rate decreased. </p

Thernrate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.39 percent from 3.36 percentrnand points moved to 0.38 from 0.37. The effective rate increased from thernprevious week.</p

Thernadjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 6.8rnpercent of total applications.  The raternfor the 5/1 ARM did show significant movement with the average contractrninterest rate rising 9 basis points to 3.11 percent and points falling to 0.32 fromrn0.43.  The effective rate increased.  </p

MBA’srnWeekly Mortgage Application Survey has been conducted since 1990 among mortgagernbankers, commercial banks, and thrifts. rnIt covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.rn Base period and value for all indexes isrnMarch 16, 1990=100 and interest rate information assumes a loan with an 80rnpercent loan-to-value ratio.  Pointsrninclude the origination fee.

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