As mortgage activity moved out of the holiday period, market metrics improved.
The Mortech-Mortgage Daily Mortgage Market Index closed at 184 for the week ended Wednesday, improving from 140 during the holiday week seven days earlier. The index, which reflects pricing inquiries by loan originators, was just 182 during the same week in 2010.
Helping to push business higher were refinances; refinance share jumped to 51 percent this week from the previous week’s 46 percent. This week’s rate-term share was 36 percent, while the cashout share was 15 percent.
The report indicated that the average U.S. loan amount moved higher to $203,918 from last week’s $197,992.
The conforming 30-year was 4.870 percent in this week’s report, lower than 4.944 percent in last week’s report. At the same time, the jumbo 30-year fell to 5.730 percent from 5.810 percent. As a result, the jumbo-conforming spread slipped to 86 basis points from 87 BPS a week earlier.
