When the U.S. Mortgage Market Index was launched in December 2009, jumbo mortgages were priced more than a hundred basis points higher than conforming loans. Today, that spread sits below 60 BPS.
The U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortech Inc. and MortgageDaily.com for the week ended May 20 inched down to 233 from 234 a week earlier. But the measure was clearly worse than a year earlier, when it stood at 270.
A slight uptick was posted for the adjustable-rate share, to 9.97 percent from the previous week’s 9.73 percent.
The refinance share crept closer to half. The rate-term refinance share was nearly 37 percent, and the cashout share came in at just over 13 percent.
The share of activity that was for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration drifted to 13.88 percent from 13.93 percent.
The 30-year conforming fixed-rate mortgage retreated again, nudging down to 4.77 percent from 4.78 percent seven days prior.
But the jumbo 30-year increased, to 5.32 percent from 5.30 percent. The inverse activity pushed the jumbo-conforming spread to 55 BPS from the previous week’s 52 BPS.
Still, the jumbo-conforming spread was better than 80 BPS during the same week last year.
In addition, the spread has improved considerably from the 113-basis-point level that existed when the Mortgage Market Index was launched in December 2009.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was one basis point lower this week at 3.97 percent. The spread between the 15- and 30-year rates was unchanged at 80 BPS.
