Refinancing Continues Slide; Volume Flat

Applications for purchase mortgages picked up a little steam this week even as application volume overall remained flat.  The Mortgage Bankers Association said that its Market Composite Index, a measure of application volume, was down 1.3 percent during the week ended March 6 on a seasonally adjusted basis and the unadjusted index lost 1 percent compared to the previous week.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index gained 2.0 percent from the week ended February 27 and the unadjusted version was up 3.0 percent.  The unadjusted Purchase Index was also 2.0 percent higher than during the same week in 2014.  These gains were offset by a 3 percent week-over-week decline in the Refinance Index.

Refinancing activity slipped another 2 percentage points from the previous week to a 60 percent share of all applications.  FHA backed mortgages garnered 14.0 percent of applications, down from 14.6 percent while the VA share increased to 10.8 percent from 9.8 percent.  USDA applications made up 0.8 percent of the week's activity, unchanged from the previous period.

Refinance Index vs 30 Yr Fixed

Purchase Index vs 30 Yr Fixed

The average loan size for purchase applications was $294,900.  This was the highest amount in the history of MBA's Weekly Mortgage Application Survey.

Average interest rates for all loan products, both contract and effective, continued their recent increases.  The average contract rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRM), that is loans with balances of $417,000 or less, increased from 3.96 percent to 4.01 percent, the highest rate since the week ended January 2, 2015.  Points increased from 0.30 to 0.39.

The rate for jumbo FRM, loans with balances in excess of $417,000, increased from 3.95 percent to 4.02 percent.  Points were unchanged at 0.27.

FHA-backed 30-year FRM rates increased 4 basis points to an average of 3.80 percent.  Points dipped slightly to 0.20 from 0.21.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year FRM increased to 3.29 percent, the highest level since the week ending December 26, 2014, from 3.27 percent.  Points were unchanged at 0.30.

Applications for adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) increased from a 5.4 percent share the previous week to a 5.6 percent share.  Hybrid 5/1 ARMS saw a 13 basis point jump in their average contract rate to 3.18 percent while points dropped from 0.50 to 0.40.   

MBA's Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, which has been conducted since 1990, covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.  Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts.  Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.  Interest rate information is based on loans with an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio and points include the origination fee.