Mortgage application volume is down nearly 3% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Nov. 15 compared with the previous week. The current data are adjusted for Veterans Day.
The decline is a result of refinancings, which made up 64% of the week’s business, dropping off 7%. This more than cancelled out the 6% seasonally adjusted increase in purchase applications. Purchases are down 3% compared with the same week in 2012 on an unadjusted basis.
“Mortgage interest rates did a 180 last week with rates falling steadily through Friday. The improvements drove activity late in the week but the strong ending wasn't enough for applications to increase week over week,” says Quicken Loans vice president Bill Banfield.
Rates dropped 16 basis points between Nov. 12 and Nov. 19, according to Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. Most of that drop took place before this past weekend and was due to the statements of Federal Reserve chairwoman-designate Janet Yellen who
Other sources including MBA and HSH.com show rates slightly increasing during the week. HSH.com has the 30-year conforming fixed up one basis point for the week ended Nov. 19.
MBA has the 30-year conforming FRM up two basis points for the period ended Nov. 15 while rates on the 30-year FRM jumbo were down one basis point. For Federal Housing Administration-insured loans, the rates were down two bps.
