New refinance business took a dive this past week, driving down overall new mortgage activity in the process. Adjustable-rate mortgage activity ascended, though.
Mortgage Daily’s U.S. Mortgage Market Index, a measure of average per-user rate-lock volume by OpenClose clients, came in at 157 in the week ended April 29.
The index, a reflection of new mortgage activity during the seven days that ended at midnight on Thursday, tumbled from a week previous, when it landed at 189.
But there was barely any change from the same week last year, when it stood at 158. The comparisons from a year earlier were revised to reflect numbers from the same data provider.
The biggest week-over-week decline was with rate locks for jumbo mortgages, which sank 34 percent from the week ended April 22, 2016 — leaving the Jumbo MMI at 8. Jumbo activity was down by half from a year ago. Jumbo share thinned to 5.4 percent from 6.8 percent and was slashed from 10.6 percent in the year-prior report.
Interest rates on jumbo loans were 2 basis points more than conforming rates in the latest report. The jumbo-conforming spread thinned from 4 BPS a week earlier and 18 BPS a year earlier.
Next up was the Refinance MMI, which slid a quarter to 89. Refinance business, however, was virtually unchanged from the week ended May 1, 2015. Refinance share was cut to 56.8 percent from 62.6 percent one week previous but minimally wider than 56.6 percent one year previous. The most-recent share was comprised of a 34.6 percent rate-term share and a 22.2 percent cashout share.
Conventional business dropped 19 percent for the week and was 10 percent lower than this week last year.
An 11 percent decline from seven days earlier left the FHA MMI at 42. FHA business, though, has soared 36 percent from 12 months earlier — the biggest improvement from a year ago. FHA share widened to 26.8 percent from 25.0 percent in the last report and 19.5 percent in the year-earlier report.
Purchase business declined 10 percent on a week-over-week basis but rose 13 percent on a year-over-year basis.
The only category to see an increase from the previous report, ARMs, accelerated 21 percent over the past seven days and climbed 35 percent over the past 12 months.
ARM share widened to 11.4 percent from 7.8 percent a week earlier and 8.4 percent a year earlier.
Fixed interest rates moved higher and cut into new business, with conforming 30-year fixed rates averaging 3.66 percent versus 3.59 percent in the last report. The 30 year retreated, however, 43 BPS from the year-previous report.
Rates on 15-year mortgages were 77 BPS lower than on 30-year loans. The spread was fatter than 74 BPS the prior week but thinner than 85 BPS the previous year.
A Mortgage Daily analysis of Treasury market activity indicates that fixed mortgage rates are likely to be approximately 6 BPS lower in the next Mortgage Market Index report.
