A modest boost in applications for loans to finance a home purchase was outdone by a reduction in mortgage refinance applications.
In the week ended Nov. 4, the Market Composite Index moved down by a seasonally adjusted 1 percent from the previous week.
The index, a measure of home loan application volume, dipped 2 percent when seasonal adjustments are eliminated from the calculation.
Refinance applications fell 3 percent from the previous week to the lowest level since May. Refinance share was trimmed to 62.3 percent from 62.7 percent. Refinance share remained, however, wider than 59.8 percent one year earlier.
Applications for purchase financing rose a percent on a week-over-week basis. Foregoing any seasonal adjustments, the Purchase Index retreated 1 percent but was still up 11 percent from the week ended Nov. 6, 2015.
The trade group reported that applications for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration made up 11.6 percent of overall activity. That was a wider FHA share than 11.1 in the prior report but a more narrow slice than 14.1 percent a year prior.
Department of Veterans Affairs-guaranteed loan share was trimmed to 12.3 percent from 12.4 percent a week earlier.
VA share was much wider, though, than 10.9 percent this week last year.
The jumbo-conforming spread improved to a negative 2 basis points from a negative 1 basis point in the last report but thinned from a negative 8 BPS in the year-earlier report.
Applications for adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 4.5 percent of all applications. ARM share
was modestly wider than 4.4 percent in the week ended Oct. 28 but thinner than 6.6 percent in the same week last year.