Mortgage application volumes
The MBA's Market Composite Index, a measure of weekly loan application activity, based on surveys of the trade group's members, climbed up a seasonally adjusted 3% for the seven-day period ending June 23. The data included adjustments for the Juneteenth holiday.
The latest uptick follows increases of 0.5% and 7.2% earlier in the month, but compared to the same week a year ago, volumes remained 33% lower.
Meanwhile, interest rates moved in different directions across categories tracked by the MBA, as investors try to determine the impact of
The 30-year jumbo rate sped up even more rapidly, jumping 11 basis points to average 6.91% from 6.8% the prior week. Points increased to 0.69 from 0.49. The jumbo average came in higher than the conforming rate for the third week in a row, bucking recent trends and pointing to a pullback in availability of such loans.
"To put this into perspective, from May 2022 to May 2023, the jumbo rate averaged around 30 basis points less than the conforming rate," said Joel Kan, MBA's vice president and deputy chief economist, in a press release.
Both purchases and refinances came in higher to push the composite index upward last week. The MBA's Purchase Index rose 2.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis to hit a high not seen since early May. But numbers still ended up 30% under the mark of a year ago.
"Existing-home sales continued to be held back by a lack of for-sale inventory as many potential sellers are holding on to their lower-rate mortgages," Kan said.
While showing no imminent signs of a reversal to begin the summer, the mean purchase-loan amount stayed flat last week, falling by a fraction to $428,000 from $428,400 seven days earlier. The association's numbers mirror housing industry reports, showing
While purchase amounts edged downward, the average size of new refinance applications headed higher by 2.5% to land at $267,200 from $260,700. The overall average size reported was $384,200, up by 0.3% from $383,200 the previous week.
The Refinance Index similarly accelerated by 3.3% in the MBA's latest survey, but volumes clocked in 39.5% lower than during the same period last year. The share of refinance applications, relative to total activity was 27.2%, up from 26.9% seven days earlier.
The share of federally sponsored loan activity remained mostly constant, with the Government Index also rising, but at a slower rate of 2.3% compared to overall numbers.
Federal Housing Administration-backed applications accounted for 12.9% of volume, down from 13.3% the prior week, but the share of Department of Veterans Affairs-guaranteed loans grew to 12.2% from 11.9%. Mortgages sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture comprised 0.4% of activity, the same percentage as the previous survey.
Although conforming and jumbo rates ended up higher week over week, other fixed averages dropped. The contract average of 30-year FHA-backed home loans slid 11 basis points to 6.63% from 6.74%, with points used by borrowers rising to 1.08 from 1.03.
The 15-year contract fixed mortgage average slid to 6.23% from 6.26%. Points used on these loans also decreased to 0.69 from 0.71.
On the other hand, the average of the 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage jumped 19 basis points for the second week in a row, surging to 6.28% from 6.09%. Points decreased to 1.02 from 1.4 for 80% LTV loans. The loans stay fixed for a five-year term before adjusting to market levels. Meanwhile, the share of all new adjustable-rate mortgages applications relative to total activity decreased to 6.1% from 6.3% one week prior.
