Mortgage Applications Take a Sharp Drop
Mortgage application activities took a sharp fall in the weekly survey conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) ending June 23, 2017. This drastic decline was felt after two consecutive weeks of increase. This date is reported in the Weekly Mortgage Application Survey.
Survey Highlights
- On the seasonally adjusted basis, the National Market Composite Index took a dip by 6.2 percent from last week. It also experienced a 7 percent drop on the unadjusted basis week-over-week.
- Also on the decline was the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index. It fell 4 percent from the previous week. Dropping 5 percent from a week ago is the purchase index on the unadjusted basis.
- The refinance activity also decreased by 1 percent over a week. From 46.6 percent of the total mortgage applications, it is now at 45.6 percent.
- Remained unchanged at 0.7 percent from a week ago was the USDA’s share or the mortgage application. FHA’s share increased slightly by 0.2 percent, now at 10.3 percent from the week prior’s 10.1 percent.
- The Adjustable-Rate Mortgage activity also plummeted to 7 percent of the total volume of mortgage applications.
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For fixed-rate mortgages with a 30-year term with conforming loan balances, the average contract interest rate is till at 4.13 percent. For those with jumbo loan balances, a slight increase was observed. From 4.08 percent, it went up to 4.09 percent on a week-over-week basis.
For the fixed-rate mortgages with a 15-year term, a 0.1 percent decrease was also seen. The average contract interest rate decreased from 3.40 percent to 3.39 percent.
MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni said, “Mortgage rates have been essentially unchanged for the past four weeks, leaving little to attract those looking to refinance, especially at rates above 4 percent.” The Weekly Mortgage Application Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) covers over 75 percent of the United States’ overall mortgage applications.