It was the lowest level of weekly activity since the U.S. Mortgage Market Index was launched. The Christmas holiday appeared to have the greatest impact on adjustable-rate inquiries.
The Mortgage Market Index was 131 for the week ended Dec. 30. It has not been this low at any point since it was launched by Mortech Inc. and MortgageDaily.com in late 2009.
The index, which reflects new loan inquiries, was 193 in the previous week. But it wasn’t much worse than the 140 level recorded for a year earlier.
Inquiries for adjustable-rate mortgages sank 36 percent from last week, the biggest drop of any category. ARMÂ share fell to 5.06 percent from 5.33 percent.
Inquiries for Federal Housing Administration loans were off 28 percent, while FHAÂ share climbed to 11.60 percent from 10.99 percent. Conventional business was down a third.
Also falling by a third were refinance inquiries. But refinance business was 36 percent better than a year earlier. Refinance share was trimmed to 67 percent from 68 percent and was well above 46 percent a year ago. This week’s share reflected a 53 percent rate-term share and a 14 percent cashout share.
Loan originators pulled 29 percent fewer pricing inquiries for purchase transaction than a week earlier. Purchase activity was 42 percent worse than this week last year.
The conforming 30-year mortgage averaged 4.089 percent this week, a little higher than 4.055 percent in last Friday’s report. The 30 year was 4.94 percent a year ago.
Jumbo mortgages were priced at an 0.80 percent premium over conforming loans this week, worsening from 75 BPS in the prior report.
Borrowers shopping for 15-year mortgages were quoted rates that were an average of 66 BPS lower than 30-year loans, a little better than the 65-basis-point spread in the prior report.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note averaged 1.94 percent this week, based on an analysis of data from the Department of the Treasury. The 10-year yield closed at 1.89 percent today. The activity suggests that mortgage rates could be around 5 BPS better in next Friday’s report.
