Mortgage activity edged up by a fraction over the holiday week, as refinances increased but now sit at just one-fifth of their volume from last year, according to
The MBA’s Market Composite Index, a measure of weekly application volume based on surveys of association members, inched up 0.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the seven-day period ending June 24. The data included adjustments for the Juneteenth holiday.
The Refinance Index climbed 2% from
“The decline in mortgage rates led to a slight increase in refinancing, driven by an uptick in conventional loans. However, refinances are still 80% lower than a year ago and more than 60% below the historical average,” Kan said in a press release.
Fannie Mae, in its weekly Refinance Application-Level Index, also reported the dollar volume of activity down 72% year over year based on data obtained via its
The seasonally adjusted MBA Purchase Index also eked out a 0.1% gain week over week after larger upward moves earlier in June. But purchases are 49% lower compared to the same week a year ago.
“Purchase applications were essentially flat last week but were supported by a 6% increase in government loans,” said Kan.
In addition to increasing by volume, the refinance share relative to total new application activity climbed to 30.3% from 29.7% one week prior. Adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 10.1% of total applications, down from 10.6% seven days earlier.
Average loan sizes fell across all categories after rising one week earlier, with the mean amount for all activity dropping 3% to $371,000 from $382,800. The average refinance amount decreased 5.8% to $273,300 from $290,000 week over week.
“The average purchase loan amount declined to $413,500, which is an ongoing downward trend since it hit a record $460,000 in March 2022,” Kan said. A week ago, the mean
Thanks to the uptick in federally backed purchase loans, the seasonally adjusted Government Index also increased last week. Government activity grabbed a larger share of total volume as well.
Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgages took a 12% share of applications, the same proportion as the previous week, but Department of Veterans Affairs-sponsored applications increased its share to 11.2%, up from 10.7% seven days earlier. Loans backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture inched up to 0.6% from 0.5% the prior week.
“Mortgage rates continue to experience large swings,” Kan said, with 30-year conforming and jumbo rates among MBA lenders both sliding downward following surges of more than 20-basis points each a week earlier.
“Rates are still significantly higher than they were a year ago, when the 30-year fixed rate was at 3.2%,” he added.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed conforming loans with balances of $647,200 or below came in at 5.84%, dropping 14 basis points from 5.98% the previous week.
The 30-year jumbo-loan contract fixed rate for mortgages above the conforming balance fell to an average of 5.42% from 5.49% week over week.
The 30-year contract fixed rate for mortgages backed by the FHA was unchanged from seven days earlier, remaining at 5.62%.
The average contract rate of the 15-year fixed mortgage also came in flat, inching up by a single basis point to 5.06% from 5.05%.
The contract interest rate for 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.64% falling from 4.78% a week earlier.
