New applications for mortgages moved lower on a week-over-week basis, and refinance applications were behind the deterioration.
For the week that ended on April 29, new applications for residential loans were down 3 percent compared to the previous week.
That was according to the seasonally adjusted Market Composite Index, which is used as a gauge for
mortgage loan application volume.
The index is reported in the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, which reportedly covers more than three-quarters of all U.S. retail applications.
Foregoing any
seasonal adjustments, the index was down 3 percent.
Refinance activity drove the decline, with applications for refinances retreating 6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Refinance share was trimmed to 52.9 percent from 54.4 percent in the week ended April 27. Refinance share, however, was little changed from the previously reported 53 percent for a year earlier.
Applications for purchase-money mortgages were mostly the same as in the prior report, though purchase-financing activity was up 1 percent without any seasonal adjustments from a week earlier and 13 percent higher than a year earlier.
The share of total applications that was for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration was 13.5 percent, widening from 12.3 percent a week earlier
but down from 14.0 percent a year earlier.
Applications for loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs accounted for 11.5 percent of the most-recent volume, down from 12.2 percent in the previous report
and 11.9 percent in the year-previous report.
Interest rates on jumbo mortgages were
8 basis points less than conforming rates. The jumbo-conforming spread widened from a negative 7 BPS the prior week and a negative 2 BPS the same week during the prior year.
Adjustable-rate mortgage share was 5.3 percent in the latest report. ARM share was slightly wider than 5.2 percent in the previous report but thinned from 6.1 percent in the week ended May 1, 2015.
