New mortgage activity was mostly flat this week, but an up tick was recorded for government-insured business and adjustable-rate mortgage activity.
At 176, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from LoanSifter and Mortgage Daily was up 1 percent from seven days previous.
The index, which reflects average per-user pricing inquiries by clients of LoanSifter, has retreated by a third compared to the same week last year.
The week’s best performance was delivered by the purchase financing category, which rose almost 4 percent from the week ended April 18. Inquiries for purchase financing were up 19 percent on a year-over-year basis.
Federal Housing Administration-insured business was next, also rising nearly 4 percent. FHA activity, however, has fallen 23 percent since the week ended April 26, 2013.
FHA share climbed to 16.1 percent from 15.7 percent in the last report and 13.8 percent in the year-earlier report.
Pricing inquiries for conventional mortgages slipped less than a percent from the previous week and have fallen 44 percent over the past year.
Refinances slowed 2 percent and were down 58 percent from a year ago. Refinance share thinned to 43.0 percent from 44.4 percent and has narrowed substantially from 68.4 percent in the same week during 2013. This week’s share reflected a 28.8 percent rate-term share and a 14.2 percent cashout share.
A 3 percent drop hit ARM inquiries, though ARM activity has increased by 76 percent on a year-over-year basis. ARM share slipped to 13.1 percent from 13.7 percent in the last report but was way up from 4.9 percent in the same week last year.
This week’s worst performance came from jumbo mortgages, which declined 4 percent from last week. But jumbo business was 10 percent stronger than the same week in 2013. Jumbo share was 10.0 percent, smaller than 10.6 percent in the last report. During this week in 2013, jumbo share was 6.0 percent.
Interest rates on jumbo mortgages were 3 basis points higher than on conforming loans, swinging from a negative jumbo-conforming spread of 2 BPS a week earlier. Jumbo mortgages were priced at 32 BPS more than conforming rates in the year-earlier period.
Conforming 30-year rates rose to 4.682 percent from 4.661 percent seven days earlier and 3.684 percent a year earlier.
Fifteen-year mortgages were priced at 100 BPS less than 30-year rates, down from a spread of 102 BPS in the last report but more than the 75-basis-point spread in place one year ago.
Mortgage rates could be slightly less in next week’s report according to an analysis of weekly Treasury market activity.
Fixed mortgage rates tend to move with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which averaged 2.71 percent during the week encompassed by the latest Mortgage Market Index report, according to data from the Treasury Department. The yield on the 10-year Treasury closed at 2.68 percent, suggesting a potential 3-basis-point drop in fixed rates in the next report.
