Purchase financing led an increase in overall new applications for home loans during the holiday week. A modest rise was recorded for refinances.
The volume of retail residential loan applications completed in the week ended Sept. 9 rose a seasonally adjusted 4 percent from a week earlier.
That was based on the Market Composite Index, which tumbled 17 percent when no adjustments are made for seasonality or the Labor Day holiday.
The index,
a measure of mortgage loan application volume, is included in the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Refinance applications rose a holiday-adjusted 2 percent from the week ended Sept. 2. Refinance share thinned to 62.9 percent from 64.0 percent a week earlier but was fatter than 56.2 percent a year earlier.
Applications for purchase financing
increased a seasonally adjusted 9 percent. But without any seasonal adjustments, the Purchase Index plunged 15 percent from the last report, though it was up 8 percent from the same week in 2015.
The latest report had applications for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration representing 9.6 percent of total applications. FHA share was bolstered from 9.5 percent the previous week but thinner than 14.2 percent a year previous.
Another 12.0 percent of applications were for loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. VA share was 11.9 percent in the report issued seven days earlier and 10.7 percent in the report from 12 months earlier.
The trade group’s survey revealed that interest rates on jumbo mortgages were 3 basis points less than conforming rates. The jumbo-conforming spread widened from 2 BPS one week earlier but was sliced from 5 BPS one year earlier.
In the most-recent report, applications for adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 4.6 percent of total activity. ARM share
widened from 4.3 percent one week prior but was cut from 6.8 percent in the week ended Sept. 11, 2015.
