Although interest rates on residential loans slipped, fewer prospective mortgage borrowers completed an application for a new loan.
In the week ended Sept. 25, retail applications for new home loans declined seven percent compared to seven days earlier.
That was based on the seasonally adjusted Market Composite Index, which reportedly reflects three-quarters of all U.S. retail residential loan applications.
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported the findings
Wednesday in its Weekly Applications Survey report.
Activity slowed despite
a slight dip in conforming 30-year fixed rates, which were off one basis point from the previous week to 4.08 percent.
Another measure of upcoming mortgage production, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortgage Daily, was off just three percent during the same period. No seasonal adjustments are made in the report, which reflects average per-user rate locks by OpenClose-clients.
Refinance applications were off
eight percent in MBA’s report.
Although refinance loan applications were down, refinance
rate locks in the Mortgage Market Index jumped 21 percent from the previous report — reflecting how refinance application volume can diverge from rate lock volume when rates move.
Refinance share in MBA’s report thinned to 58.0 percent from 58.4 percent one week earlier.
MBA reported that its seasonally adjusted Purchase Index dropped six percent on a week-over-week basis. But purchase applications have climbed 20 percent on an unadjusted year-over-year basis.
The trade group indicated that 13.8 percent of total applications were for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, while another 10.3 percent were for loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Adjustable-rate mortgage share was 6.9 percent.
