Mortgage applications improved for the first time in four weeks. As rates ascended to the highest level in seven years, more prospective borrowers opted for an adjustable-rate.
New applications for residential loans submitted to retail lenders during the week ended Sept. 14 rose from a week prior by a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent.
Mortgage application activity is based on the Market Composite Index, which jumped 12 percent versus the seven days that included Labor Day when no adjustments are made.
Reporting the index Wednesday was the Mortgage Bankers Association, which derived the data from its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.
A 4 percent increase was recorded for refinance applications, which made up 39.0 percent of applications. Refinance share
widened from 37.8 percent in last week’s report but was far more narrow than 52.1 percent in the report from a year ago.
Hardly any change was recorded for purchase applications on a seasonally adjusted basis. But the category jumped 9 percent without the adjustments and was 4 percent better than the week ended Sept. 15, 2017.
The share of applications that were for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration widened to 10.6 percent from 10.4 percent during the week ended Sept. 7 and was also fatter than 9.9 percent the same week last year.
Applications for mortgages guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs
made up a 10th of the seven-day total, thinning from 10.5 percent a week earlier an 10.1 percent a year earlier.
Of all applications submitted, 6.5 percent were for adjustable-rate mortgages, a more broad share than 6.4 percent in the preceding seven-day period
but more narrow than 6.8 percent in the same seven days during 2017.
Jumbo interest rates were 11 basis points lower than conforming rates — which were the highest they’ve been since April 2011. The spread was trimmed from 12 BPS a week previous but has more than doubled compared to 5 BPS a year previous.
