Lifted by a 5 percent rise in adjustable-rate activity, new mortgage inquiries were 2 percent higher this week. Mortgage rates improved, refinance share shrank and the jumbo-conforming spread widened.
At 211 for the week ended Friday, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index gained steam from 206 last week. This week’s reading was worse, however than the same week last year when the index was 238.
The recent increase was fueled by adjustable-rate mortgages, with the ARM index edging up to 20 from 19 a week earlier.
The Purchase MMI rose to 110 from 107, and the Refinance MMI edged up to 101 from 99.
Refinance share fell to just under 48 percent from just over 48 percent but was up from 43 percent in the week ended March 10, 2010. This week’s rate-term refinance share was 34 percent, and cashout-share was 14 percent.
The spread between the conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and its jumbo counterpart widened to 73 basis points from 70 BPSÂ last week. But the spread between the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage and the 30-year maintained at 77 BPS.
