Mortgage rates are up and so is the volume of mortgage applications, which increased 4.8 percent from a week earlier according to the latest data from the MBA Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.
The Market Composite Index, which is a part of the survey and measures mortgage loan application volumes increased 5 percent on an unadjusted basis compared to the previous week, while the refinance index rose 7 percent from last week, the survey indicated. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 4 percent compared to the previous week and was 8 percent higher than the same period a year ago.
The survey found that the refinance share of mortgage activity was 39.4 percent of total applications, marking a 0.9 percentage points increase from a week earlier. The ARM share of activity, however, remained unchanged at 7 percent of total applications.
Government loans showed a slight decline in activity with the FHA share of total applications decreasing to 9.9 percent compared to 10.3 percent in the prior week and the VA share of applications falling slightly to 10.3 percent from 10.7 percent last week. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.8 percent.
The weekly movement of average contract rates on various mortgages are as follows:
- The 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($453,100 or less) increased to 4.69 percent from 4.68 percent, with points decreasing to 0.43 from 0.46 for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
- The 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $453,100) increased to 4.60 percent from 4.55 percent, with points decreasing to 0.36 from 0.37 for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
- The 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 4.75 percent from 4.69 percent, with points decreasing to 0.56 from 0.81 for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
- The 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.09 percent from 4.12 percent, with points decreasing to 0.46 from 0.51 for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
- The 5/1 ARMs increased to 3.92 percent from 3.83 percent, with points decreasing to 0.46 from 0.68 for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.