A week-over-week, rate-driven surge was recorded for mortgage refinance applications, more than offsetting a decline in applications for loans to finance a home purchase.
The Market Composite Index for the week that ended on April 21 escalated a seasonally adjusted nearly 3 percent from the previous seven-day period.
Foregoing seasonal adjustments, the index — a measure of retail residential loan application volume — was still up a solid 3 percent from the last report.
The findings were included in the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The survey reportedly covers over 75 percent of all applications.
MBA reported that refinance applications climbed 7 percent from the week ended April 14. Refinance share widened to 44.0 percent from 42.4 percent the prior week but was more thin than 54.4 percent one year prior.
Refinances were more lively as fixed rates fell to their lowest level since November 2016.
A seasonally adjusted week-over-week decline, however, of 1
percent was recorded for loan applications for purchase financing. Foregoing seasonality, purchase activity was hardly changed from the previous report and up less than 1 percent from the week ended April 22, 2016.
FHA share has been cut to 10.0 percent from 11.0 percent in the preceding survey and slashed from 12.3 percent the same week last year.
VA share slimmed to 10.9 percent from the previous week’s 11.1 percent and 12.2 percent twelve months earlier.
A negative 5-basis-points was recorded for the jumbo-conforming spread.
The spread didn’t change from the last survey, but it was more narrow than the same week a year ago, when jumbo rates were 7 BPS lower than conforming rates.
Applications for adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for
8.7 percent of all activity. ARM share widened from 8.4 percent a week earlier and 5.2 percent a year earlier.
