Mortgage Application Volume Second Highest of Year

Mortgage interest rates waffled, moving in different directions depending on the product last week, but the volume of mortgage applications increased rather decisively.  The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of that volume, surged by 5.1 percent during the week ended June 15. It was the largest increase in total mortgage volume since the week ended January 5, 2018. On an unadjusted basis the volume was up 3 percent.  

Applications for both refinancing and home purchases increased compared to the week ended June 8. The Refinance Index gained 6 percent and the refinancing share of applications grew from 35.6 percent to 36.8 percent.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased by 4.0 percent from one week earlier and the unadjusted Purchase Index by 1.0 percent.  The latter was up 3.0 percent from the same week one year ago.

Refi Index vs 30yr Fixed

Purchase Index vs 30yr Fixed

The FHA share of total applications declined from 10.6 percent to 10.1 percent week-over-week and the VA share dipped to 10.2 percent from 10.7 percent. USDA applications accounted for 0.7 percent of volume after weeks with an 0.8 percent share.  

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRM) with conforming loan balances of $453,100 or less was unchanged at 4.83 percent, with points decreasing to 0.48 from  0.53.  The effective rate moved lower.   

Thirty-year jumbo FRM, loans with balances exceeding the conforming rate, had an average rate of 4.79 percent with 0.36 point, up from 4.74 percent with 0.37 point the prior week.  The effective rate was also higher.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year FRM backed by the FHA dipped by 1 basis point to 4.82 percent.  Points increased to 0.84 from 0.78, leaving the effective rate at the previous week's level.   

The rate for 15-year FRM rose to 4.27 percent from 4.23 percent.  Points rose to 0.53 from 0.51, driving the effective rate higher.  

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) dropped to 4.06 percent from 4.11 percent, and points fell to 0.54 from 0.56.  The effective rate declined.  The ARM share of overall activity increased to 7.0 percent from 6.8 percent the previous week.

MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey has been conducted since 1990 and 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 and interest rate information is based on loans with an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio and points that include the origination fee.