More mortgage applications were completed by prospective borrowers on a weekly basis, and purchase business was especially strong.
Residential loan originators
completed 21 percent more new loan applications in the week ended Jan. 8 than they did one week previous.
That was according to the
Market Composite Index. The index, which reflects mortgage application volume, was adjusted for seasonality.
Without any seasonal adjustments, activity soared by more than three quarters, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association — which reports the index in its
Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.
MBA said refinance applications increased by nearly a quarter from the week ended Jan. 1 on a seasonally adjusted basis. But refinance business has tumbled by 38 percent from the same week in 2014.
Refinance share was 55.8 percent in the latest report, not much different than 55.4 percent seven days earlier.
Applications for purchase financing climbed 18 percent from one week prior.
Without adjustments for seasonal variations, purchase activity accelerated 74 percent from a week earlier and 19 percent from a year earlier.
“MBA’s purchase mortgage application index reached its second highest level since May 2010 on a seasonally adjusted basis last week, second only to the week prior to the implementation of the Know Before You Owe rules,” MBA Vice President of Research and Economics Lynn Fisher said in the report.
Fisher noted that
purchase activity was bolstered by strong fourth-quarter job growth and continued low rates. She speculated that the strong purchase market at the end of last year is continuing into 2016.
MBA reported that applications for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration accounted for 14.4 percent of total applications. FHA share slipped from 14.6 percent the previous week.
Applications for loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs made up 12.2 percent of total business. VA share diminished from 12.9 percent a week previous.
Applications for adjustable-rate mortgages represented 5.1 percent of all activity. ARM share was
up from 4.7 percent in last week’s report.
Interest rates on jumbo mortgages were 10 basis points less than on their conforming counterparts. The jumbo-conforming spread thinned from a negative 11 BPS one week prior.
