Mortgage Market Index Down 3 Weeks in a Row

The average loan originator pulled 12 percent fewer pricing inquiries this week than last week. It was the third consecutive week that new business was lower.

Compared to a year earlier, mortgage activity was down 22 percent.

Those were the finding from the U.S. Mortgage Market Index report from Mortech Inc. and Mortgage Daily for the week ended Sept. 2. The index, itself, was 273 this week.

Behind the disappointing performance were refinance inquiries, which fell 14 percent from last week. Refinance activity was down 19 percent from the week ended Sept. 1, 2010.

Refinance share was two thirds in the latest report, off from last week’s 68 percent but better than 64 percent during the same week last year. This week’s share reflected a rate-term share of 52 percent and a cashout share of 14 percent.

The week-over-week decline in purchase activity was more moderate at 8 percent. But purchases sank 26 percent from a year earlier.

Inquiries for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration were off 10 percent for the week. FHA share, however, was higher at 9.63 percent this week versus 9.20 percent seven days ago.

Conventional business fell 12 percent from last week.

The share of this week’s activity that was for adjustable-rate mortgages was 7.10 percent, increasing from 6.82 percent in the previous report. But ARM activity was still down 10 percent.

The conforming, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage eased a basis point from last week to 4.34 percent.

The jumbo 30-year mortgage was down 3 BPS, trimming the jumbo-conforming spread to 63 BPS from last week’s 65 BPS.

The spread between the conforming 15 year and the conforming 30 year widened to 86 BPS from 81 BPS, making the 15-year an even more attractive option.