Mortgage Apps Rise at Fastest Pace in 2 Months

Stoked by the lowest interest rates in several weeks the volume of applicationsrnfor mortgages to both purchase and refinance homes increased by the largestrnpercentages during the week ended March 20 than at any time since earlyrnJanuary. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market CompositernIndex, a measure of application volume, jumped 9.5 percent on a seasonallyrnadjusted basis from the week ended March 13 and was up 9.0 percent on anrnunadjusted basis.  </p

Applications for refinancing made up 61 percent of the total, up 2rnpercentage points from the previous week with much of the activity centered onrnrefinancing; MBA’s Refinance Index rose 12 percent compared to the previousrnweek. The Purchase Index was 5 percent higher than the previous week on both arnseasonally adjusted and an unadjusted basis, each reaching its highest level sincernJanuary.  The unadjusted Purchase Indexrnwas 3 percent above its level during the same week in 2014.</p

Refinance Index vs 30 Yr Fixed</p

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Purchase Index vs 30 Yr Fixed</p

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FHA loans had a 13.3 percent share of the market, down from 14.3 percentrnthe week before and 10.1 percent of applications were for VA loans compared torn10.3 percent.  Applications for USDArnloans decreased from 0.9 percent to 0.8 percent.</p

Contract interestrnrates fell across the board during the week and the effective rate retreated forrnall products but the FHA-backed loan. The average contract rate for the 30-yearrnfixed-rate mortgage (FRM) with conforming balances of $417,000 or declined to thernlowest level since February at 3.90 percent with 0.37 point.  The previous week the rate was 3.99 percentrnwith 0.40 point.</p

Thern30-year jumbo FRM with loan balances greater than $417,000 decreased to 3.89rnpercent, the lowest level since January, from 3.94 percent.  Points decreased to 0.25 from 0.33. </p

Also reaching thernlowest level since January, the rate for FHA-backed 30-year FRM dipped 3 basis pointsrnto 3.71 percent.  Points increased torn0.21 from 0.12 and the effective rate was unchanged. </p

The averagerncontract interest rate for 15-year FRM decreased from 3.28 percent to 3.22rnpercent, the lowest level since February 2015. rnPoints decreased to 0.28 from 0.34. </p

The share ofrnadjustable rate mortgages (ARM) increased to 5.8 percent of applications fromrn5.5 percent as contract rates on the 5/1 hybrid ARM fell to the lowest levelrnsince January.  The average rate was 2.97rnpercent with 0.38 point compared to 2.99 percent with 0.43 point the previousrnweek.</p

MBA’s WeeklyrnMortgage Applications Survey covers over 75 percentrnof all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers,rncommercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes isrnMarch 16, 1990=100 and raterninformation is based on loans with an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio and pointsrninclude the origination fee.

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