A weekly reduction was recorded for the volume of mortgage applications. Jumbo rates grew more attractive, and government share widened.
A seasonally adjusted 2 percent decline was recorded for the Market Composite Index for the seven-day period that finished on June 8.
Foregoing seasonal factors, the index — a measure of retail residential loan applications — increased 9 percent from the preceding week, which included Memorial Day.
The Mortgage Bankers Association, which reported the index Wednesday based on its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, said applications for refinances came in 2 percent less than in the week ended June 1. Refinance share was unchanged at 35.6 percent, though it was thinner than 45.4 percent in the same report a year ago.
Applications for loans to finance a home purchase fell a seasonally adjusted 2 percent. But without those adjustments, purchase activity jumped 9 percent and was mostly unchanged from the same-seven days in 2017.
MBA reported that applications for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration made up 10.6 percent of the weekly total. FHA share widened from the prior week’s 9.7 percent but thinned from 11.1 percent a year prior.
Another 10.7 percent of applications were for loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, more broad than 10.1 percent in last week’s report but not as wide as 11.1 percent in the report from a year previous.
Adjustable-rate mortgages applications accounted for 6.8 percent of total applications, more narrow than 7.1 percent in last week’s report and 7.4 percent in the week ended June 9, 2017.
MBA’s data indicate that jumbo rates were 9 basis points less than conforming rates. The spread nearly doubled from 5 BPS a week earlier and was also fatter than 6 BPS a year earlier.
