Mortgage Apps Continue to Trend Down

A decrease in applications for refinance loans continued to pull mortgage apps down during the week with overall mortgage applications decreasing 1.9 percent from the week earlier according to the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey by the MBA.

On an unadjusted basis, the market composite index decreased 1 percent, while the Refinance Index decreased 2 percent from the previous week. The Purchase Index decreased 2 percent on an adjusted basis and by 1 percent on an unadjusted basis. The Purchase Index was 0.5 percent lower than the same week last year.

The refinance share of mortgage activity marked its lowest level since September 2008 and decreased to 38.4 percent from 38.5 percent a week ago. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity also declined to 6.3 percent of total applications, the survey data indicated.

However, the FHA as well as VA share of total applications increased during the week to 11 percent and 10.9 percent respectively from the prior week’s 10.1 percent for FHA applications share and 10.3 percent for VA applications. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.8 percent for the third week in a row.

The changes in average contract interest rates for various mortgage applications were as follows:

• The rates decreased to 4.66 percent from 4.69 percent for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, even as the effective rate decreased from last week.
• For 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances, the rates decreased to 4.53 percent from 4.56 percent. The effective rate showed a decline from last week.
• The rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 4.66 percent from 4.74 percent. The effective rate also decreased during the period.
• The rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.08 percent from 4.09 percent in the previous week, while the effective rate increased during the period.