Mortgage Apps Continue to Climb

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey on Wednesday, covering the week ending November 10, 2017. Mortgage applications were trending positive yet again, up 3.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to the previous week. An an unadjusted basis, that number would be 2 percent week-over-week. It’s worth noting, however, that the week’s results do not include an adjustment to account for the Veterans’ Day holiday.

One data point that stands out in this week’s report is that the average contract interest rate for both 15-year fixed-rate mortgages and 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) are both sitting at their highest levels since March 2017. Fifteen-year FRMs jumped from 3.51 percent to 3.54, and 5/1 ARMs increased from 3.33 percent to 3.41 percent. The average contract interest rate for 30-year FRMs, however, held fast at 4.05 percent.

Here’s a look at some of the other numbers for the week.

• The Refinance Index increased 6 percent from the previous week, reaching its highest level since October 2017.
• The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.4 percent week-over-week.
• The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 3 percent. This puts it 17 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
• The refinance share of mortgage activity hit 51.3 percent of total applications, the highest level since September 2017. Last week it was at 49.0 percent.

On the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) front, the FHA share of total applications decreased to 10.2 percent, compared to 10.6 the previous week. VA share of total applications saw a negligible bump, increasing to 10.1 percent from 10.0 percent. The USDA share of total applications held steady at 0.7 percent.

The MBA’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey examines more than 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, with respondents including mortgage banks, commercial banks, and thrifts.