Mortgage Apps Down in MBA Weekly Survey
A slight increase in refinance applications last week couldn’t make up for a sharp drop in purchase applications, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported this morning in its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 13.
The Market Composite Index decreased by 1.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased by 2 percent compared to the previous week.
The Refinance Index increased by 1 percent from the previous week. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 54.7 percent of total applications from 52.8 percent the previous week.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 6 percent from one week earlier to the lowest level since February. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased by 6 percent compared to the previous week but was 12 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
The FHA share of total applications decreased to 12.6 percent from 13.0 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications increased to 12.2 percent from 11.7 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.7 percent the week prior.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) remained unchanged at 3.82 percent, with points unchanged at 0.34 (including origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio loans. The effective rate was unchanged from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) remained unchanged at 3.74 percent, with points decreasing to 0.29 from 0.31 (including origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by FHA decreased to 3.63 percent from 3.64 percent, with points increasing to 0.28 from 0.25 (including origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.02 percent from 3.06 percent, with points increasing to 0.38 from 0.33 (including origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgages increased to 2.94 percent from 2.93 percent, with points increasing to 0.30 from 0.22 (including origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
The ARM share of activity decreased to 5.5 percent of total applications.
The survey covers more than 75 percent of all U.S. retail and consumer direct residential mortgage applications and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts.
