Mortgage refinance transactions were behind a weekly decline in new residential lending activity. But financing activity for home shoppers managed an increase.
At 159, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from OpenClose and Mortgage Daily for the week ended Oct. 28 was down nearly 3 percent from a week earlier.
But the index, which provides insight into upcoming originations based on average per-user rate locks by OpenClose clients, was up 22 percent from a year earlier.
The biggest decline from the week ended Oct. 21 was with the Jumbo MMI: 12 percent to 12. Jumbo business has descended by nearly a third from a year ago. Jumbo share thinned to 7.4 percent from 8.2 percent and was sliced from 13.3 percent this week last year.
Jumbo mortgage rates were 7 basis points more than conforming rates. The jumbo-conforming spread widened from less than a basis point in the prior report and swung from a negative 15 BPS a year prior.
Rate locks for refinances fell 9 percent, leaving the Refinance MMI at 64. But refinance activity was still up by more than half compared to the downwardly revised level for the week ended Oct. 30, 2015. Refinance share was trimmed to 40.1 percent from 43.0 percent, though it was wider than the downwardly revised 32.1 percent the same week in 2015. The most-recent share was comprised of a 23.8 percent rate-term share and a 16.3 percent cashout share.
A 4 percent week-over-week decline was recorded for conventional rate locks.
The Government MMI was 54, down less than a percent from the last report. Government share widened to 34.2 percent from 33.4 percent. This week’s share consisted of a 23.6 percent FHA share and a 10.6 percent VA share.
Rate locks for purchase
financing rose 2 percent from last week and were 7 percent greater than the upwardly revised total from 12 months ago.
This week’s best performing category was adjustable-rate mortgages, with the ARM MMI up a fifth to 11. But ARM activity slowed by a tenth from one year prior. ARM share widened to 7.2 percent from 5.8 percent but was down from 9.6 percent the same week in 2015.
