Applications for loans to finance a home purchase ascended to a more than seven year high — leading a week-over-week gain in overall mortgage applications. Government share has thinned over the past year.
The Market Composite Index for the week that concluded on Jan. 19 moved higher by a seasonally adjusted 5 percent compared to the previous week.
Without seasonal adjustments, however, the index — a measure of retail residential loan application volume — decreased 4 percent from the week ended Jan. 12.
The Mortgage Bankers Association derived the index from its
Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, which reportedly covers three-quarters of all applications.
Refinance applications inched up a percent from the last report. Refinance share, meanwhile,
thinned to 49.4 percent from 52.2 percent a week earlier and 50.0 percent a year earlier.
MBA’s survey indicated that applications for purchase financing
rose a seasonally adjusted 6 percent to their highest level since April 2010. Ignoring seasonal factors, purchase applications moved just 2 percent higher and increased 7 percent from the report for the same week last year.
An 11.4 percent share was recorded for applications for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration. FHA share was more narrow than 11.7 percent in last week’s report and 13.6 percent in the report from a year ago.
Applications for loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs represented 10.9 percent of the most-recent activity, more than the 10.7 percent VA share the preceding week. VA share, though, has thinned from 12.2 percent in the year-earlier report.
At 5.2 percent, the share of applications that were for adjustable-rate mortgages was the same as in the last report.
ARM share has thinned, though, from the week ended Jan. 20, 2017, when it was 5.7 percent.
Jumbo interest rates were 5 basis points less than conforming rates, less than the 8-basis-point spread in last week’s report and the 7-basis-point spread as of a year previous.
