With purchase-money applications leading the way, weekly applications for home loans made a healthy ascension. Refinance share, however, continued to weaken.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, a 5 percent increase from the previous seven-day period was recorded for the Market Composite Index for the week ended April 13.
Foregoing seasonal adjustments, the index — a measure of retail residential loan application volume — ascended 6 percent from the week that concluded on April 6.
That is according to the
Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group says the survey covers more than three-quarters of all applications.
A 4 percent week-over-week rise was recorded for refinance applications. Still, the share of applications that were for refinances — 37.6 percent — was the lowest since it was 36.3 percent in the week ended Sept. 5, 2008. Refinance share was 38.4 percent in last week’s report and 42.4 percent the same week in 2017.
MBA reported that applications for loans to finance a home purchase jumped a seasonally adjusted 6 percent for the week. Without seasonal adjustments, purchase activity climbed 7 percent and were up 10 percent from the week ended April 14, 2017.
At 10.6 percent, the share of applications for mortgages insured by the  Federal Housing Administration thinned from 11.0 percent a week earlier and a year earlier.
Another
10.4 percent of applications were for loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. VA share was down from 10.9 percent in the prior report and 11.1 percent a year prior.
Adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 6.6 percent of the weekly total. ARM share widened from 6.3 percent but was more narrow than 8.4 percent in the same-seven days during 2017.
Interest rates on jumbo mortgages were 13 basis points lower than conforming rates, the same as the preceding week. The spread was much more broad though, than 7 BPS a year previous.
