New mortgage business fell just short of prior week activity. But purchase financing activity was stronger, and adjustable-rate mortgage business was busier.
For the week ended May 8, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from LoanSifter/Optimal Blue and Mortgage Daily was at 156 — less than one percent below the previous week’s mortgage activity.
Providing insight into average per-user product-and-pricing inquiries by LoanSifter customers, the index dropped 18 percent from the week ended May 9, 2014.
As the strongest week-over-week performing category, purchase financing was seven percent improved over the prior week. But the category declined 29 percent from the first full week in May in 2014.
Adjustable-rate mortgage business jumped six percent from the prior week. This improvement, however, was not reflected in a year-over-year basis. In fact, ARM inquiries plummeted 42 percent from the same point a year ago. Subsequently, ARMs were the poorest performing year-over-year comparison category.
Recent ARM share was bumped up to 9.3 percent from 8.7 percent a week ago, but unsurprisingly, fell from 13.2 percent for the first full week ended May a year ago.
From the week that ended with May Day, jumbo loan activity saw 3 percent growth. Still, recent activity was down 14 percent from the same week in 2014.
At 10.9 percent, jumbo loan share was up from just over 10.4 percent as of the prior week and just under 10.4 percent at the end of the week last year on May 9.
As of May 8, 2015, jumbo interest rates were 17 basis points higher than conforming rates. The recent jumbo-conforming spread was one basis point wider than the week ended May 1 but turned around from a negative five-basis-point spread as of May 9 a year ago.
Inquiries on loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration grew almost one percent from the previous seven-day period. As the strongest performing category in a year-over-year basis, FHA business grew five percent from the same week ended May 9, 2014.
The recent FHA share expanded to 19.8 percent from 19.5 percent the previous week and widened from 15.5 percent as of the same week last year.
Refinance loan inquiries were the weakest week-over-week performing category, dropping seven percent from the week ended May 1 this year. Recent inquiries were just four percent lower that reported a year earlier on May 9.
Refinance share fell to 52.6 percent from 56.2 percent seven days prior. On a year-over-year basis, however, the recent share grew from 45.2 percent at the same point in 2014. The latest week’s calculation includes a 36.5 percent rate-term share and a 16.2 percent cashout share.
Conventional activity decreased just two percent from the week ended May 1. This decline was minimal compared to the 24 percent fall from the same point in 2014.
Fixed interest rates on conforming 30-year loans averaged 4.160 percent for the week. This average was seven BPS worse than the prior seven days but plunged 40 BPS from the same time frame in the prior year.
Fifteen-year home loan rate quotes were 85 BPS better than on 30-year mortgages, which was unchanged from the week ended May1. The spread thinned from last year, for the week ended May 9, when it was at 98 BPS.
In next week’s report, fixed rates are likely to be approximately 3 BPS lower than this week, according to a Treasury market activity analysis by Mortgage Daily.
