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Mortgage Activity Rises 22%, Government Business Leads

Loan originators saw a 21.9 percent rise in the number of ""locked-in"" loans last week, according to ""Optimal Blue"":https://www2.optimalblue.com/ and ""_Mortgage Daily's_"":http://www.mortgagedaily.com/ U.S. ""Mortgage Market Index"":http://www.mortgagedaily.com/MortgageMarketIndex.asp (MMI).

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The index reached 205.9 for the week ending February 8, up from 168.9 in the previous week. On a yearly basis, rate lock volume was up 19 percent.

According to _Mortgage Daily's_ report, much of the weekly rise can be attributed to an increase in government- [COLUMN_BREAK]

insured loans: Business for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) grew 26 percent week-over-week and 10 percent year-over-year.

The FHA share of total business increased slightly to 19.7 percent from 19.1 percent previously.

The Refinance MMI came in second in terms of growth, posting a 22.0 percent increase to 96.1. The refinance share of total activity was essentially flat, rising 5 basis points to 46.7 percent. Approximately 35.7 percent of that was a rate-term share, while 11.0 percent was a cashout share.

Locks also rose for purchase loans, pushing the Purchase MMI up 21.8 percent above the previous week to reach 109.8.

Conventional rate loan locks saw a 21.1 percent increase, while jumbo locks showed a weak 4.3 percent rise. According to _Mortgage Daily_, however, jumbo business has increased nearly 46 percent year-over-year--the biggest yearly gain out of any category. Jumbo share was down, falling from 9.6 percent to 8.2 percent.

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