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A slowdown in refinances and purchase mortgage loans drove overall applications down this week, according to the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The Market Composite Index, which measures mortgage loan application volume, determined that mortgage applications decreased 0.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending October 30, 2015.
The Index fell 1 percentage point on an unadjusted basis compared to last week, the MBA reported. The Refinance Index and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index both decreased 1 percent from the previous week. Meanwhile, the unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent compared with the previous week, but was 20 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
The MBA data showed that the refinance share of mortgage activity rose to 59.7 percent of total applications from last week's number of 59.5 percent, while the adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.7 percent of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications declined to 13.2 percent from 13.7 percent from last week, the survey found. The VA share of total applications fell to 11.9 percent from 12.3 percent the week prior, while the USDA share remained unchanged from last week at 0.7 percent.
For 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less), the average contract interest rate increased to 4.01 percent from 3.98 percent, with points increasing to 0.47 from 0.44 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. MBA also found that the effective rate for these loans increased from last week.
For 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000), the average contract interest rate increased from 3.88 percent to 3.90 percent, with points increasing to 0.34 from 0.33 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate for these loans increased from last week.
