The refinance share of total application activity in the latest available Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly index report rose above 80% as it hit a high not seen since January 2009.
The refinance share jumped to 81.4% during the week ending Aug. 13 from 78.1% the previous week as refis helped boost the total Market Composite Index 13% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis the market index was up 12.4% from the previous week. The four-week moving average for the seasonally adjusted market index was up 2.6%.
The four-week moving average for the refinance portion of the market was up 3.2% while that average for the purchase index was up just slightly at 0.1%. The seasonally adjusted purchase index was down 3.4% week-to-week. On an unadjusted basis, it dropped 4.6% from the previous week and was down 38.6% from the same week a year earlier.
During the week ending Aug. 13, the average contract rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages during the week jumped week-to-week to 4.60% from 4.57%. Points on 30-year FRMs, including the origination fee on a mortgage with an 80% loan-to-value ratio, rose to 0.92 from 0.89. The 15-year FRM rate also rose a bit during the week ending Aug. 13 to 3.99% from 3.95%, as points on this loan product dropped slightly to 1.05 from 1.08.
The average rate for one-year adjustable-rate mortgages during the week ending Aug. 13 dropped to 6.90% from 7.00%, with points inching down to 0.21 from 0.22. ARM activity dropped during the week ending Aug. 13 to 5.7% of apps from 5.9% of apps the previous week.
