Mortgage applications decreased 6.6 percent from a week earlier as rising interest rates made the prospect of buying a home more costly for potential homebuyers.
According to data from the weekly mortgage applications survey released by the MBA on Wednesday, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 6.6 percent from a week earlier. The Refinance Index fell 7 percent from the previous week, while the Purchase Index decreased 6 percent from a week earlier.
The data indicated that refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to its lowest level since July 2017 to 44.4 percent of total applications, from 46.5 percent in the earlier week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.4 percent of total applications.
While the FHA share of total applications decreased to 9.9 percent from 10.1 percent in the earlier week, the VA share of total applications saw a slight dip to 10 percent from 10.1 percent. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.8 percent, the survey said.
Other highlights for the weekly applications survey were as follows:
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($453,100 or less) increased to its highest level since January 2014 to 4.64 percent from 4.57 percent, with points increasing to 0.61 from 0.59 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $453,100) increased to its highest level since January 2014 to 4.62 percent from 4.55 percent, with points increasing to 0.50 from 0.47 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by FHA increased to its highest level since April 2011 to, 4.58 percent from 4.54 percent with points decreasing to 0.71 from 0.73 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
- The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to its highest level since April 2011 to 4.02 percent from 4 percent with points increasing to 0.66 from 0.65 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
- The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 3.72 percent from 3.74 percent, with points increasing to 0.39 from 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.