During the week that included Independence Day, new mortgage activity significantly declined. A substantial drop from a year earlier was also recorded. Jumbo business, however, mostly held up.
As of the week ended July 7, the Mortgage Market Index from Mortgage Daily, which provides insight into upcoming originations based or rate-lock volume by clients of OpenClose, was 107.
That turned out to be the lowest level for the index, which is not adjusted to account for seasonal factors, since the week ended Jan. 6, 2017.
New business plunged 28 percent from the preceding week. Even more telling was the comparison with the same holiday week in 2016, with a 36 percent year-over-year tumble.
Rate locks for adjustable-rate mortgages plummeted from the week ended June 30 by 44 percent — the most of any category. ARM activity fell 24 percent from a year prior. At 7.3 percent, ARM share was thinner than 9.3 percent the previous week but was slightly wider than 6.2 percent the same week the previous year.
A 34 percent week-over-week reduction was recorded for refinance business, while the category plunged by nearly half from the downwardly revised level for the week ended July 8, 2016. Refinance share
was cut to 27.9 percent from the previous week’s 30.3 percent and a downwardly revised 48.8 percent share one year previous. The most-current share consisted of a 12.7 percent rate-term share and a 15.3 percent cashout share.
Up next was the Conventional MMI, which was down a third from the prior report to 62.
After that was the Purchase MMI, which declined 26 percent to 77. Purchase business fell by 29 percent versus the upwardly revised level one year earlier.
The Government MMI was 45, retreating 21 percent from seven days prior. Government share widened to 41.9 percent from 37.9 percent and was comprised of a 30.5 percent FHA share and an 11.4 percent VA share.
Sporting the smallest week-over-week drop were rate locks for
jumbo mortgages: 2 percent. Jumbo activity was off just 3 percent from the same week last year. Jumbo share widened to 9.5 percent from 7.0 percent a week earlier and 6.3 percent a year earlier.
Rates on jumbo mortgages were 17 basis points higher than conforming rates. The jumbo-conforming spread widened from 12 BPS in the preceding report and the year-earlier report.
