Mortgage applications tumbled 27% from two weeks earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Jan. 1, 2016.
These results include an adjustment to account for the New Year’s Day holiday, while the previous week’s results were adjusted for the Christmas holiday. Last week is the only week of the year that the MBA doesn’t release a mortgage application report.
The refinance index dropped 37% from two weeks ago, compared to the seasonally adjusted purchase index, which decreased 15% from two weeks earlier.
The refinance share of mortgage activity fell to 55.4% of total applications from 56.1% the previous week, as the adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity declined to 4.7% of total applications.
The Federal Housing Administration share of total applications jumped to 14.6%, up from 13.8% the week prior. The Veteran Affair’s share of total applications also increased, growing to 12.9% from 11.6% the week prior. The United States Department of Agriculture share of total applications stayed frozen at 0.6%.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) moved to its highest level since July 2015 and came in at 4.20%. This is up from 4.19% last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) increased to 4.09% from 4.07%.
In addition, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 3.95% from 3.97%.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.47% from 3.42%, while the average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 3.19% from 3.13%.
