Mortgage Applications Up in Holiday-Adjusted Survey

Mortgage loan applications rose nearly 5 percent last week on a surge in home purchase activity, according to figures released Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a seasonally adjusted increase of 4.9 percent in mortgage applications for the week ending November 14. The figure also includes an adjustment for the Veterans Day bank holiday.

The jump accompanied a slight dip in interest rates, which fell to an average 4.18 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

For the week, MBA reported a 1 percent bump in refinance applications. Even with the slight increase, the refinance share of total mortgage applications fell to 61 percent from 63 percent the previous week.

Meanwhile, the group's seasonally adjusted measure of applications for home purchases spiked 12 percent week-over-week, boosting it to its highest level since July.

Taking out seasonal and holiday adjustments, purchase applications are still 6 percent lower than they were at this time last year.

In other news, government-backed mortgages accounted for a greater share of loan applications last week. According to MBA, the share of loans backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs was up to 11.5 percent, while the share of applications for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) rose to 9.9 percent in its survey.

Now that FHA's mortgage insurance fund has found more stable footing, the agency signaled this week it plans to push its initiatives to made credit available to more borrowers through counseling and other programs.