A marginal improvement in mortgage rates wasn’t enough to push new loan activity higher. Jumbo shoppers, meanwhile, were greeted with more competitive pricing this week.
Pricing inquiries by mortgage loan originators were lower this week as evidenced by the Mortech-Mortgage Daily Mortgage Market Index for the week ended Wednesday. The index slipped to 209 from last week’s 223 and was lower than 272 during the same week last year.
The decline was the result of refinance transactions, which accounted for 51 percent of business versus 53 percent last week. This week’s rate-term share was 37 percent, and the cashout share was 15 percent.
The national average loan amount of $206,792 was virtually unchanged from $206,602 last week. The highest average loan amount was Hawaii’s $279,765, and North Dakota’s average was lowest at $139,898.
The deterioration in weekly activity came despite an improvement in the conforming 30-year fixed-rate to 4.828 percent from 4.859 percent seven days earlier. The jumbo 30-year, meanwhile, fell to 5.55 percent from last week’s 5.600 percent. The resulting jumbo-conforming spread fell to 72 basis points from 74 BPS a week ago.
