New mortgage activity was driven higher by home purchase financing this past week. Also significantly improving was government business, which has expanded by nearly a fifth from a year ago.
A reading of 156 was recorded for Mortgage Daily’s U.S. Mortgage Market Index for the week ended July 28. The index provides insight into upcoming originations based on rate-lock volume at OpenClose.
A 3 percent rise in activity from the previous week was recorded for the index, which is not adjusted to reflect seasonal variations. Still, business was down by 11 percent versus the same week in 2016.
The biggest gain from the week ended July 21, 2017, was with the Purchase MMI, which jumped 8 percent to 112. Purchase-money business was 7 percent higher than one year prior.
A 6 percent week-over-week increase was recorded for government activity, while the category has increased almost 20 percent from the week ended July 29, 2016. Government share widened to 40.7 percent from 39.2 percent in the last report and has ballooned from 30.3 percent this week a year ago.
The most-recent government share consisted of a 30.8 percent FHA share and a 9.9 percent VA share.
Rate locks for adjustable-rate mortgages rose 3 percent from a week earlier and soared from a year earlier by 24 percent — the largest year-over-year increase of any category. ARM share inched up to 9.9 percent from 9.8 percent and has widened significantly from 7.1 percent twelve months prior.
A less than 1 percent rise from the prior report left the Conventional MMI at 92. Conventional activity, though, has subsided by 24 percent from one year previous.
Jumbo business was unchanged from the preceding week but has fallen 27 percent from the same week in 2016. Jumbo share thinned to 7.2 percent from 7.3 percent but was thinner than 8.7 percent
the same week in 2016. Jumbo interest rates were 8 basis points higher than conforming rates. The jumbo-conforming spread widened from 7 BPS the previous week but was much thinner than 15 BPS the same week a year ago.
Refinance rate locks tumbled 9 percent — the only category with a week-over-week decline. Refinance business has slowed by 38 percent over the past year — the largest year-over-year decline. Refinance share was cut to 28.0 percent from 31.4 percent and also stood more narrow than 40.1 percent in the year-earlier seven-day period. The most-recent share was comprised of a 12.1 percent rate-term share and a 15.9 percent cashout share.
