Mortgage rates slipped this week, but that wasn’t enough to push business higher ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Refinances were hit especially hard.
A nearly one-third drop from last week left the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortech Inc. and Mortgage Daily for the week ended Nov 21 at 136. The decline wasn’t so bad when compared to the 16 percent drop from the same week in 2011.
Taking the biggest bite out of the week’s business were refinance pricing inquiries, which were down 33 percent from the week ended Nov. 16. Refinance inquiries fell 45 percent from a year earlier.
Refinance share was 76 percent this week, a little thinner than 77 percent in the prior report. Refinance share was 63 percent in the week ended Nov. 25, 2011. This week’s share consisted of a 61 percent rate-term share and a 15 percent cashout share.
With a 32 percent drop from last week, conventional loans were the next-worst performers. Conventional business was down 14 percent from the same week in 2011.
Inquiries for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration were down 31 percent for the week and 27 percent lower than a year ago. FHAÂ share rose to 9.7 percent from 9.6 percent last week but stood lower than 11.4 percent this week last year.
A 29 percent decline from a week earlier was registered for purchase financing inquiries. Compared to a year ago, purchase activity was down 45 percent,.
After that were inquiries for adjustable-rate mortgages, which fell 27 percent from last week and 63 percent from the same week last year. ARMÂ share inched up to 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent seven days prior. ARM share was 5.5 percent a year ago.
The best performer this week was jumbo mortgage activity — down 26 percent from last week. Jumbo share climbed to 8.9 percent from 8.2 percent.
Jumbo loans were priced at 53 BPS more than their conforming counterparts, a little better than the 55-basis-point jumbo-conforming spread in the prior report.
Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.483 percent this week, off from 3.491 percent a week ago. The 30 year reached its lowest level on record in the week ended Sept. 28: 3.411 percent.
The 30-year mortgage was 4.214 percent 12 months ago.
Fifteen-year loans were priced at a 63-basis-point discount under 30-year loans, the same as last week and better than 61 BPS a year prior.
