Weekly Mortgage Market Index Sinks Ahead of Holiday

Weekly Mortgage Market Index Sinks Ahead of Holiday

DALLAS — (Nov. 26, 2012) Mortgage rates slipped last week, but that wasn’t enough to push business higher ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Refinances were hit especially hard.

A nearly one-third drop from the prior week left the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortech Inc. and Mortgage Daily for the week ended Nov 21 at 136. The decline wasn’t so bad when compared to the 16 percent drop from the same week in 2011.

Taking the biggest bite out of the week’s business were refinance pricing inquiries, which were down 33 percent from the week ended Nov. 16. Refinance inquiries fell 45 percent from a year earlier.

Refinance share was 76 percent, a little thinner than 77 percent in the prior report. Refinance share was 63 percent in the week ended Nov. 25, 2011. Last week’s share consisted of a 61 percent rate-term share and a 15 percent cashout share.

With a 32 percent drop from last week, conventional loans were the next-worst performers. Conventional business was down 14 percent from the same week in 2011.

Inquiries for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration were down 31 percent for the week and 27 percent lower than a year prior. FHA share rose to 9.7 percent from 9.6 percent but stood lower than 11.4 percent the same week last year.

A 29 percent decline from a week earlier was registered for purchase financing inquiries. Compared to a year previous, purchase activity was down 45 percent,.

After that were inquiries for adjustable-rate mortgages, which fell 27 percent from a week earlier and 63 percent from the same week last year. ARM share inched up to 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent seven days prior. ARM share was 5.5 percent a year earlier.

The best performer was jumbo mortgage activity — down 26 percent from the previous week. Jumbo share climbed to 8.9 percent from 8.2 percent.

Jumbo loans were priced at 53 BPS more than their conforming counterparts, a little better than the 55-basis-point jumbo-conforming spread in the prior report.

Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.483 percent, off from 3.491 percent a week prior. The 30 year reached its lowest level on record in the week ended Sept. 28: 3.411 percent.

The 30-year mortgage was 4.214 percent 12 months earlier.

Fifteen-year loans were priced at a 63-basis-point discount under 30-year loans, the same as the previous week and better than 61 BPS a year prior.