The holiday week took a toll on new mortgage business, with adjustable-rate mortgage activity erasing prior-week gains. Jumbo business was the only category this week to rise.
An indication of upcoming loan originations,
the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortgage Daily, was 132 in the week ended Sept. 8.
The index, which is based on per-user rate-lock volume
at OpenClose, retreated 15 percent from the preceding week. No adjustment was made for the Labor Day holiday.
A 22 percent reduction in rate-lock volume was recorded versus the same week last year.
Experiencing the largest week-over-week decline were applications for adjustable-rate mortgages, which tumbled 17 percent from the week ended Sept. 1 — when it was the only category with a week-over-week improvement. But ARM activity has soared 31 percent from a year prior — the best year-over-year performance of any category. ARM share thinned to 10.2 percent from 10.5 percent but was much wider than 6.1 percent the same week in 2016.
The Purchase MMI sank more than 15 percent from the last report and was down 12 percent from the week ended Sept. 9, 2016.
A nearly 15 percent descension was recorded from seven days earlier for the Conventional MMI, while conventional business dropped a third from one year previous.
Government rate locks fell 14 percent from a week earlier but ascended 4 percent from a year earlier. Government share was just over 38.5 percent, minimally wider than just under 38.5 percent in the prior report and much wider than 28.8 percent twelve months prior. The latest share was comprised of a 26.6 percent FHA share and a 12.0 percent VA share.
Rate locks for refinances were reduced 13 percent from the last report and plunged 35 percent from the same week in 2016. Refinance share widened to 37.1 percent from 36.4 percent but was more narrow than 44.5 percent one year earlier. The latest refinance share was made up of a 16.9 percent rate-term share and a 20.1 percent cashout share.
The smallest decline from the last report was with jumbo business, which was off just 4 percent. But jumbo activity has plunged 46 percent from the same week in 2016 — the worst year-over-year loss of any category. Jumbo share widened to 7.8 percent from 6.9 percent but was much thinner than 11.2 percent in the same week a year ago. Interest rates on jumbo mortgages were 3 basis points more than conforming rates. The jumbo-conforming spread widened from 1 basis point in the report seven days ago and was unchanged from the same seven days last year.
