Mortgage Bankers Association

Even as mortgage rates rose to their highest level since March, application activity increased from one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Loan applications for newly constructed homes slowed on a month-to-month basis in December as the storm-driven spike in volume ended.

Mortgage application volume started the year on the upswing because of higher refinance activity, even with a slight increase in rates.

There were fewer mortgage programs available to borrowers at the lower end of the credit spectrum in December, resulting in an overall decrease in credit availability.

Refinance volume fueled recent market gains by nonbank mortgage originators. But lower volume amid the shift to purchase lending has nonbanks trimming headcounts and may position banks to recapture market share.

Mortgage application volume decreased 2.8% during the last two weeks of 2017, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

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The share of new refinance mortgage applications reached its highest point since December 2016, but overall activity fell compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The mortgage market had already priced the Federal Open Market Committee's 25-basis-point hike into its rates so there was little change, according to Freddie Mac.

The share of new refinance mortgage applications reached its highest point since January, but overall activity fell compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.