Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

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Mortgage applications increased 0.2% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 21, 2025.

“Mortgage rates crept higher last week, with the 30-year fixed rate up to 6.4 percent, its highest level since early October. Despite these slightly higher rates, purchase applications increased over the week and remained at a stronger pace than a year ago, with increases across conventional and government purchase applications. The government purchase index, which includes FHA, VA, and USDA applications, increased 9 percent and had the strongest week since 2023,” said Joel Kan, MBA Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “Despite slowing home-price growth and lower mortgage rates, affordability remains a challenge in many markets and government loan programs remain appealing to qualified buyers looking to purchase a home. The average purchase loan size decreased to its lowest level in two months.”

Added Kan, “Rates have increased by around 10 basis points over the past four weeks and given that many borrowers have been looking to capitalize on rate drops, refinance applications last week declined almost 6 percent to the slowest weekly pace since September.”

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 2% compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 6% from the previous week and was 117% higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 8% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 2% compared with the previous week and was 20% higher than the same week one year ago.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 53.4% of total applications from 55.4% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 7.9% of total applications.

The FHA share of total applications decreased to 18.8% from 19.9% the week prior. The VA share of total applications increased to 15.4% from 15.2% the week prior. The USDA share of total applications increased to 0.4% from 0.3% the week prior.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($806,500 or less) increased to 6.40% from 6.37%, with points decreasing to 0.60 from 0.62 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $806,500) increased to 6.49% from 6.39%, with points increasing to 0.55 from 0.42 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 6.15% from 6.14%, with points decreasing to 0.79 from 0.84 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.80% from 5.83%, with points increasing to 0.72 from 0.69 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 5.44% from 5.65%, with points decreasing to 0.54 from 0.81 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

If you would like to purchase a subscription of MBA’s Weekly Applications Survey, please visit www.mba.org/WeeklyApps, contact mbaresearch@mba.org or click here.

The survey covers U.S. closed-end residential mortgage applications originated through retail and consumer direct channels.  The survey has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks, thrifts, and credit unions. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.