The Mortgage Bankers Association released their Purchase Applications for last week, and the report showed that the index was up 1.3%.
This was all from an increase in refinances, which bounced back 2% for the week. Refinances increased to 61% of all transactions.
Purchase applications fell by a modest 0.4%, and remain steady. A look at the chart below shows just how resilient they have been even in an increasing interest rate environment.
The average interest rate on 30-year conforming loans decreased by 7 basis points to 4.73%. This rate includes 0.33 origination points. More real time data suggests that the housing market is hanging in there very well. The pace of appreciation has slowed, but it is still expected to continue.
And speaking of appreciation, CoreLogic reported that home prices increased by 1.8% in July, and are now up 12.4% year-over-year. This marks the 17th consecutive month of year-over-year home price gains. What else can we say but housing continues to show strength. Pay close attention to the 1.8% appreciation for July, as this is very encouraging.
