Helped by a bump in purchase transactions and a dip in interest rates, new mortgage inquiries improved this past week.
The U.S. Mortgage Market Index for the week ended March 4 was 206, marginally higher than 203 in last week’s report. The index from Mortech Inc. and MortgageDaily.com was 245 during the same week last year.
Behind the weekly improvement was a 4 percent increase in purchase activity, while refinance transactions slipped 1 percent.
Refinance share was 48 percent in the latest report, lower than 49 percent last week but higher than 45 percent last year. This week’s share reflected a 34 percent rate-term share and a 14 percent cashout share.
The number of prospective borrowers out shopping for an adjustable-rate mortgage was mostly unchanged this past week, with ARM share slipping to 9.26 percent from last week’s 9.45 percent.
As mortgage rates moved lower this week, the jumbo-conforming spread was unchanged at 70 basis points, while the spread between the 15-year and the 30-year climbed to 77 BPS from 74 BPS.
