Mortgage Apps Up
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 2.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 2.3% compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 2.8% from the previous week and is at its highest level since May 1, 2009. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1.8% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 0.4% compared with the previous week and was 37.0% lower than the same week one year ago. “Refinancing activity picked up again last week, reaching new 15-month highs, as borrowers took advantage of even lower mortgage rates.
The drop in mortgage rates was in line with Treasury rates as the latest data continue to show weak economic growth and an exceptionally weak housing market,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics. “The sharp decline in MBA’s Purchase Application index in May had provided a clear leading indicator of the drops in new and existing home sales that were reported for June and July. Despite the slight increase in purchase activity in the past week, the continued low level of purchase applications indicates we are unlikely to see an increase in new home sales reported for August or existing home sales reported for September.” The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 5.2%.
The four week moving average is down 0.2% for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 6.3% for the Refinance Index. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 82.9% of total applications from 82.4% the previous week and is the highest refinance share observed since January 2009. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.1% from 5.8% of total applications from the previous week.
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