While applications for loans to finance a home purchase saw a 1 percent week-over-week gain, applications for loans to refinance an existing mortgage led an overall increase.
During the seven days that concluded on Aug. 4, retail applications for residential loans rose a seasonally adjusted 3 percent from the prior week based on the Market Composite Index.
Even without any seasonal adjustments, the index —
a measure of mortgage loan application volume — still increased 3 percent from the preceding seven day period.
The Mortgage Bankers Association provided the index as part of its
Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, which reportedly covers more than three-quarters of all applications.
According to the trade group, applications for refinances climbed 5 percent from the week ended July 28 as refinance share widened to 46.7 percent from 45.5 percent. But the share has significantly diminished from 62.4 percent the same week in 2016.
Moving on to loans used to finance a home purchase, applications
inched up a seasonally adjusted 1 percent from the last report. Foregoing seasonal factors, purchase-money activity was mostly unchanged from the prior week but jumped 7 percent from the week ended Aug. 5, 2016.
MBA had Federal Housing Administration application share at 10.2 percent, more narrow than 10.3 percent the previous week but modestly more broad than 10.0 percent the same week the previous week.
Department of Veterans Affairs share, meanwhile, widened to 10.7 percent from 10.1 percent but was much thinner than 13.0 percent twelve months prior.
The report indicated that applications for adjustable-rate mortgages made up 6.8 percent of overall activity. ARM share
widened from 6.6 percent a week earlier and 4.7 percent a year earlier.
The jumbo-conforming spread widened to a negative 7 basis points from a negative 6 BPS the prior week. A year prior, jumbo mortgage rates were only a single basis point lower than conforming rates.
