A sharp week-over-week increase in new purchase financing activity drove overall mortgage business higher this past week. But jumbo activity turned significantly lower.
In the week that ended on March 10, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from OpenClose and Mortgage Daily, a gauge of upcoming loan originations, came in at 168.
That turned out to the the highest level since the week ended Nov. 11, 2016, for the index,
which is determined based on average per-user rate locks by clients of OpenClose.
The index, which is not seasonally adjusted, climbed 14 percent from the prior week.
Compared to the same week last year, the index ascended 10 percent.
Leading the week-over-week rise was the Government MMI, which jumped 19 percent to 63. Government share of business widened to 37.3 percent from 35.7 percent. This week’s share consisted of a 28.7 percent FHA share and an 8.6 percent VA share.
Next were rate locks for
purchase financing, increasing 17 percent from the week ended March 3, 2017, and leaving the Purchase MMI at 118. Purchase activity rose 14 percent from the upwardly revised level a year ago.
Rate locks for conventional mortgages were up 11 percent, with the Conventional MMI landing at 105.
After that was refinance business, which moved up 7 percent and was 2 percent higher than the downwardly revised level in the week ended March 11, 2016. Refinance share thinned to 29.7 percent from 31.7 percent the prior week and a downwardly revised 32.0 percent a year prior. This week’s share was made up of a 15.4 percent rate-term share and a 14.3 percent cashout share.
A 1 percent week-over-week gain was recorded for adjustable-rate mortgage activity, while ARM rate locks soared 24 percent on a year-over-year basis. ARM share was trimmed to 9.3 percent from 10.4 percent but widened from 8.2 percent twelve months ago.
The only decline from the last report was with rate locks for jumbo mortgages, with jumbo volume sinking 34 percent. Jumbo business was off 3 percent from the same week in 2016. Jumbo share was cut to 7.4 percent from 11.2 percent but was little changed from 7.6 percent
a year previous.
The spread between jumbo and conforming loans was a negative basis point, hardly different than a week earlier and a year earlier.
