It’s all quiet on the mortgage application front, per the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
According to the latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association, released Wednesday morning and based on data for the week that ended Sept. 2, 2016, mortgage applications rose by 0.9% over last week’s total.
Last week saw a 2.8% increase from one week earlier, which itself was down 2.1% from the week before that.
So basically, it’s minor movements in one direction or the other each week, but it’s all in the same ballpark, and has been for a little while now.
Specifically, the MBA report showed that the Market Composite Index, which is a measure of mortgage loan application volume, rose by 0.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
On an unadjusted basis, the Index actually fell by 0.1% when compared with the previous week.
Additionally, the Refinance Index increased 1% from the previous week, while the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index also increased 1% from one week earlier.
On the other hand, the unadjusted Purchase Index fell by 1% compared with the previous week but was 7% higher than the same week one year ago.
Overall, the refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 64% percent of total applications, rising from 63.5% in the previous week, the MBA’s report showed.
The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity decreased to 4.3% of total applications.
Additionally, the MBA’s report showed that the Federal Housing Administration share of mortgage applications fell by two basis points from 9.7% last week to 9.5% this week, while the Department of Veteran Affairs’ share of total applications fell to 11.9% from 12.5% during the week prior.
The United States Department of Agriculture share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.6%.
Interest rates also showed relatively little movement.
According to the MBA report, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances (meaning loans with balances $417,000 or less) increased to 3.68% from 3.67%.
The MBA report also showed that the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (meaning greater than $417,000) increased to 3.66% from 3.63%.
Additionally, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA fell from 3.54% to 3.52%, while the average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages held steady at 2.96%, and the average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs fell from 2.9% to 2.87%.
