Overall weekly mortgage activity slipped as interest rates were worse, though jumbo mortgage business and jumbo interest rates were both improved.
In the week ended Aug. 14, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from OpenClose and Mortgage Daily wound up at 140.
That put the index — a measure of average per-user rate locks by OpenClose clients — at three percent less than in the prior report.
Compared to the same week in 2014, activity has retreated 17 percent. Year-earlier numbers have been revised to reflect figures from the same data provider.
Out front of the week-over-week decline were rate locks for adjustable-rate mortgages, which were down 17 percent from the week ended Aug. 7. Compared to a year prior, ARM business has plunged 36 percent — more than any other category. ARM share thinned to 8.5 percent from 9.8 percent and was 10.9 percent in the year-earlier report.
A nine percent drop from the previous week was recorded for locks on loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Compared to the week ended Aug. 15, 2014, however, FHA business has increased five percent. FHA share narrowed to 20.3 percent from 21.5 percent a week earlier but was wider than 16.0 percent a year earlier.
Locks on purchase financing dropped five percent on a week-over-week basis and were down 21 percent on a year-over-year basis.
Close behind were refinance locks, which dipped four percent from the last report — though refinance activity was virtually unchanged from the same week in 2014. Refinance share declined to 58.9 percent from 59.4 percent but was more than 48.8 percent the same week in 2014. The latest share included a 39.3 percent rate-term share and a 19.5 percent cashout share.
Conventional business slowed two percent and was off 22 percent from a year prior.
The only category to show a gain over the week earlier — jumbo — was up two percent. Jumbo rate locks stood nearly a third above their level 12 months earlier — the strongest year-over-year improvement. Jumbo share has winded to 16.5 percent from 15.7 percent in the last report and 10.4 percent in the year-prior report.
Large-loan strength is being driven by aggressive pricing, with interest rates on jumbo mortgages coming in 19 basis points less than on conforming loans. The jumbo-conforming spread widened from a negative 14 BPS in the previous week and a negative 12 BPS in the same seven-day period in 2014.
Mortgage rates are unlikely to
change much over the next week based on a Mortgage Daily analysis of Treasury market activity.
