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Applications for mortgage loans sank last week as a decline in refinances offset a meager pickup in purchase loan activity. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey recorded a 2.2 percent decrease in applications during the week ending July 25. The survey compiles its data using information gathered on roughly 75 percent of all loan applications in the United States.
Among the activity recorded, refinance applications fell 4 percent from the preceding week, accounting for an estimated 53 percent of total application volumes. Applications for home purchases, meanwhile, edged up an adjusted 0.2 percent week-over-week, declining slightly on an unadjusted basis and falling short of last year’s activity by 12 percent.
Leaders at the Federal Reserve voted Wednesday to move forward with the central bank's plans to gradually cut monthly bond purchases, a sign of growing confidence that the economy is trending in a more favorable direction. In a statement released following its July meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee announced it has voted to bring its asset purchases to a pace of 25 billion dollars per month. The FOMC announcement came on the same day as the latest report on gross domestic product, which showed economic growth rebounded to an annual rate of 4 percent in the second quarter. With three more committee meetings scheduled this year and economic indicators looking better, most analysts anticipate the Fed's asset purchasing program will come to a close before winter
