Even though overall new mortgage business was weaker this past week, new purchase financing activity accelerated and the jumbo sector soared.
The Mortgage Daily U.S. Mortgage Market Index, a reflection of average per-user rate locks by OpenClose clients, was 171 in the week ended March 4.
A 1 percent decline was reported versus the report from the previous week, while the index has fallen 8 percent compared to the same week a year earlier.
The numbers from the week ended March 6, 2015, were revised to reflect figures from the same data provider.
Rate locks for adjustable-rate mortgages, which had been up 42 percent in the week ended Feb. 26, 2016, fell 34 percent and were down a third from one year prior. ARM share tumbled to 6.6 percent from 9.9 percent and was also thinned down from 9.1 percent this week last year.
Refinance activity diminished by 15 percent for the week but was up 17 percent on a year-over-year basis. Refinance share narrowed to 74.7 percent from 86.8 percent but was still wider than 58.8 percent one year prior. The most-recent share was made up of a 47.7 percent rate-term share and a 26.9 percent cashout share.
Conventional business fell just over 2 percent from the last report and was off nearly 13 percent from the year-earlier report.
Rate locks for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration inched up a percent for the week and were 9 percent stronger than 12 months ago. FHA share was 23.8 percent, slightly wider than 23.3 percent one week prior and fatter than 20.0 percent one year prior.
An 8 percent week-over-week gain was logged for purchase financing, though the category slipped 2 percent from one year ago.
The best improvement was delivered by rate locks for jumbo mortgages:
44 percent. But jumbo activity slid 41 percent from the same week in 2015 — the worst year-over-year decline. Jumbo share fattened to 6.6 percent from 4.5 percent but was more narrow than 10.3 percent a year ago.
Jumbo mortgage interest rates were eight basis points less than conforming rates. The spread was slightly more than seven BPS the prior week and swung from a positive 13 BPS the same week in the prior year.
Fixed interest rates on conforming 30-year mortgages
crept up to 3.64 percent from 3.62 percent but remained significantly lower than 4.15 percent 52 weeks ago.
Fifteen-year rates were 70 BPS better than 30-year rates. The spread widened from 69 BPS a week earlier but thinned from 83 BPS a year earlier.
Fixed mortgage rates could be around nine BPS worse in the next Mortgage Market Index report based on a Mortgage Daily analysis of Treasury market data. Bond yields jumped today on a strong February jobs report.
