It was another bad week for the mortgage market — with rates rising, refinances retreating and new weekly activity down by 15 percent. But business was still better than at the same time last year.
At 221, the Mortech-Mortgage Daily Mortgage Market Index for the week ended Wednesday was off from the prior week’s index of 260. A year ago, the Mortgage Market Index was only 197.
The average U.S. loan amount was $204,437 this week, lower than $209,625 last week.
Refinances were responsible for dragging down new activity, with the refinance share falling to 52 percent from 56 percent a week earlier. This week’s share reflected a 37 percent rate-term share and a 16 percent cashout share.
The lower refinance share was impacted by a 23-basis-point weekly rise in the conforming 30-year, which averaged 4.906 percent this week. At the same time, the jumbo 30-year rate was up just 21 BPS to 5.640 percent. The resulting jumbo-conforming spread fell to 73 BPS from last week’s 75 BPS.
