While there was a modest retreat in the volume of overall new weekly mortgage activity, an increase was recorded for jumbo and adjustable-rate mortgage business.
An indication of upcoming originations, the
U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortgage Daily and OpenClose, slipped 6 percent in the week ended April 14.
The index, which reflects average rate-lock volume by OpenClose users, fell 16 percent from the same week last year. There are no seasonal adjustments made to the MMI.
The biggest decline from the week ended April 7, 2017, was with the Government MMI, which tumbled 18 percent from the last report. Government share, meanwhile, was cut to 35.0 percent from 39.9 percent. The most-recent share was made up of a 26.5 percent FHA share and an 8.5 percent VA share.
A more than 7 percent decline was recorded for refinance rate locks. The Refinance MMI has tumbled 22 percent from the downwardly revised level in the week ended April 15, 2016. Refinance share was trimmed to 30.0 percent from 30.4 percent and cut from the downwardly revised 32.4 percent as of a year ago. The most-recent share was comprised of a 15.5 percent rate-term share and a 14.5 percent cashout share.
Next up were rate locks for purchase financing, which dropped 6 percent from a week earlier, leaving the Purchase MMI at 110. Purchase business has fallen 13 percent from a year earlier.
The Conventional MMI inched up 1 percent from the previous week to 102.
Rate locks for ARMs climbed 22 percent and were up 8 percent from the same week in 2016. ARM share widened to 11.0 percent from 8.4 percent in the prior report and 8.5 percent a year prior.
The category with the best week-over-week change was the Jumbo MMI, which jumped 27 percent. But jumbo business plunged 30 percent on a year-over-year basis. Jumbo share was thicker at 7.3 percent versus 5.4 percent in the last report. But jumbo share thinned from 8.8 percent twelve months earlier.
Interest rates on jumbo mortgages were 8 basis points less than conforming rate. The jumbo-conforming spread thinned from a negative 10 BPS the prior week and swung from a positive 2 BPS a year prior.
