Purchase Apps Pick Up Some Slack From Falling Refi Volume

Mortgage applicationsrndeclined again during the week ended February 20.  The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) saidrnthat its Market Composite Index, a measure of application volume, was down 3.5rnpercent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week ended February 13.  There was also an adjustment to the data tornaccount for the Presidents’ Day Holiday which fell during the week.  On a non-adjusted basis the volume was downrn12 percent from the previous week.</p

Refinancing activity<bcontinued to retreat.  The Refinance Index decreasedrn8 percent from the previous week and the refinancingrnshare of applications fell from 66 percent to 62 percent, the fourth decline inrnfive weeks.  </p

The seasonally adjustedrnPurchase Index increased 5 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index lost 2 percent compared with the previous week and was 2 percentrnlower than during the same weekrnin 2014.  </p

Refinance Index vs 30 Yr Fixed</p

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Purchase Index vs 30 Yr Fixed</p

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The share of FHA-backed applicationsrnincreased 1 basis point to 15.3 percent and the VA share was 9.6 percentrncompared to 8.0 percent the prior week. rnUSDA/RHA applications remained unchanged at a 0.9 percent share.</p

Both the average contract interest raternand the effective rate increased for most products surveyed by MBA’s WeeklyrnMortgage Application Survey.  </p

The contract rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRM) with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increasedrnto an average of 3.99 percent from 3.93 percent, with pointsrndecreasing to 0.33 from 0.35. </p

The rate for a jumbo 30-year FRM with loan balances greater than $417,000rnincreased to 4.09 percent from 3.92 percent, with pointsrndecreasing to 0.21 from 0.28. </p

FHA-backed 30-year FRM had a rate of 3.82 point with 0.15 point compared to 3.73 percent with 0.12 point. </p

The average contractrninterest rate for 15-year fixed-raternmortgages increasedrnto 3.28 percent from 3.24 percent, with points decreasing to 0.30 from 0.35.  </p

The adjustable-raternmortgage (ARM) share of activityrndecreased to 5.2 percent of total applications from 5.3 percent thernprevious week.  The average contractrninterest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 3.28 percent from 3.09 percent,rnwith points decreasing to 0.31 from 0.47. </p

MBA’s application surveyrnhas been conducted weekly since 1990 among mortgage bankers, commercial banks,rnand thrifts.  The survey covers over 75 percentrnof all U.S. retailrnresidential mortgage applications.   Base period and value for all indexesrnis March 16, 1990=100 and raterninformation presumes mortgages with an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio withrnpoints including the origination fee.

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