An increase in home purchase activity drove mortgage applications higher during the week ended June 17. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, rose 4.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis and was up 3.0 percent from the prior week on an unadjusted basis. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased by 8.0 percent for the second consecutive week and was 6.0 percent higher before adjustment. Purchase activity continues to lag its performance year-over-year. It was 10 percent lower this week. [purchaseappschart] The Refinance Index, moved lower again, declining another 3 percent during the past week and was 77 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of applications decreased to 29.7 percent from 31.7 percent the previous week. It appears, from MortgageNewsDaily records, to have been the first week since 2008 that the refinancing share failed to top 30 percent. [refiappschart] “Mortgage rates continued to surge last week, with the 30-year fixed mortgage rate jumping 33 basis points to 5.98 percent – the highest since November 2008 and the largest single-week increase since 2009 . All other loan types also increased by at least 20 basis points, influenced by the Federal Reserve’s 75-basis-point rate hike and commentary that more are coming to slow inflation,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “Mortgage rates are now almost double what they were a year ago, leading to a 77 percent drop in refinance volume over the past 12 months.”
Source: Mortgage News Daily
