Purchase Apps Up, Refis Down

On Wednesday, the MBA released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending September 29. The survey reports on more than 75 percent of all U.S. retail and consumer direct residential mortgage applications and takes responses from mortgage bankers, commercial banks, and thrifts.

According to the MBA, the end of September possessed an overall increase in rates. “Rates moved higher over the course of last week, at least partially due to signs of stronger economic growth,” said MBA AVP for Industry Surveys and Forecasting Joel Kan. “Four of the five mortgage rates that we tracked increased with our 30-year fixed rate increasing one basis point over the week. Refinance application activity decreased almost 2 percent with this upward trend in rates.”

Kan also noted that the purchase market has been experiencing slow growth over the year and a week-over-week increase. The report showed a normalization in areas impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. “We continue to closely track application volume as an indicator of the impact of the recent hurricanes. Overall application activity in Texas returned closer to national patterns, while Florida continued to see some bounce back after the hurricanes,” said Kan.

Other week-over-week stats at a glance:

• The Market Composite Index decreased by 0.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis
• The Refinance Index fell by 2 percent
• The seasonally adjusted purchased Index increased by 1 percent
• The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages with conforming loan balances rose to 4.12 percent from 4.11 percent

To see the full survey, click here.