Mortgage application volume increases slightly
After some slight increases and decreases in recent weeks in the volume of mortgage applications, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for last week shows an increase of 0.1, pointing to signs of stabilization with no wild swings recently as it rests just 3.0 percent higher than a year ago.
According to the MBA, the refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 72.6 percent of total applications from 73.4 percent the previous week, continuing the trend of refinances accounting for less of all volume. The government share of purchase applications remained steady at 37.0 percent, a slight increase from a couple of weeks ago when the share was 36.4 percent. The government share of purchase applications over the last three weeks has been at the lowest level since 2009.
During the month of March, the investor share of applications for home purchase was at 5.7 percent, a slight decrease from 6.1 percent in February. This change was led by a decline in the West South Central region. In addition, the share of purchase mortgages for second homes remained constant at 5.8 percent.
Current average rates
What kind of deals are people getting on mortgages? According to the MBA:
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,500 or less) increased to 4.05 percent from 4.04 percent, with points increasing to 0.44 from 0.40 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,500) increased to 4.32 percent from 4.27 percent, with points decreasing to 0.38 from 0.44 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 3.80 percent, the lowest rate in the history of the survey, from 3.81 percent, with points decreasing to 0.50 from 0.52 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.31 percent, the lowest rate in the history of the survey, from 3.32 percent, with points decreasing to 0.41 from 0.41 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 2.87 percent from 2.81 percent, with points decreasing to 0.35 from 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
