Refinance Applications Slightly Improved, Offset by Drop in Purchase Apps

Thernvolume of mortgage applications remained largely unchanged during the weekrnended January 31.  The Mortgage BankersrnAssociation’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, a measure of the mortgagernapplication activity, ticked up 0.4 percent from the previous week on arnseasonally adjusted basis and rose 14 percent on an unadjusted basis from thernweek ended January 24.</p

Refinancingrnremained at 62 percent of total applications while the Refinancing Indexrnincreased 3 percent. </p

Refinance Index vs 30 Yr Fixed</p

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The seasonallyrnadjusted Purchase Index was down 4.0 percent from the previous week while the unadjustedrnindex increased 14 percent week-over-week and was 17 percent below the levelrnduring the same week in 2013.   </p

Purchase Index vs 30 Yr Fixed</b</p

The<bjumbo 30-year FRM (balances above $417,000) had an average rate of 4.42 percent,rndown from 4.47 percent, with points decreasing to 0.11 from 0.27.</p

The average contractrninterest rate for 30-yearrnfixed-rate mortgages backedrnby the FHA decreased to 4.12 percent from 4.18 percent,rnwith points decreasing to 0.15 from 0.33. </p

Rates fell an average of 6 basis points torn3.53 percent for 15-year FRMs.  Pointsrnincreased to 0.28 from 0.26. </p

The share ofrnapplications filed for adjustable rate mortgage products (ARMs) rose from 7rnpercent the previous week to 8 percent. rnThe average contract rate for the 5/1 ARM, the most popular of thernadjustable rate mortgages, declined to 3.15 percentrnfrom 3.25 percent, with points increasing to 0.41 from 0.33.   This decrease took the 5/1 hybrid back tornDecember 2013 levels. </p

MBA’s data is gathered from its WeeklyrnMortgage Application Survey conducted among mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thriftsrnand covering 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgagernapplications.  The survey has been conductedrnsince 1990 and the base period and value for its indexes is March 16,rn1990=100.  Interest rates are quoted forrnloans with an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio and points include the originationrnfee.

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