The weekly volume of people applying for a new home loan accelerated, and it was refinance activity that was out front of the week-over-week gain.
A seasonally adjusted nearly 5 percent increase from one week earlier was recorded for the Market Composite Index for the seven days that finished on March 23.
The index, which is a measure of retail residential loan application volume,
was still up 5 percent from the week ended March 16 without seasonal adjustments.
Data for the index was culled from the
Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, which the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. More than three-quarters of all applications are reportedly covered by the index.
A 7 percent rise in refinance applications was reported by MBA. Refinance share widened to 39.4 percent from 38.5 percent a week earlier. But the share has thinned from 44.0 percent one year earlier.
Applications for loans to finance a home purchase rose a seasonally adjusted 3 percent. Without considering seasonal factors, purchase-money activity was up 4 percent from the preceding seven-day period and 8 percent higher than the week ended March 23, 2017.
The trade group said that applications for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration made up 9.9 percent of all applications. FHA share slipped from 10.3 percent the prior week and fell from 10.8 percent a year prior.
As was the case for FHA share, the share of business that was for loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs dipped to 10.3 percent from 10.7 percent and was also thinner than 11.0 percent in the report from a year ago.
Applications for adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 7.0 percent of all business, the same as in the previous week. ARM share was more narrow, though, than 8.5 percent in the same seven days last year.
Interest rates on jumbo mortgages were 9 basis points lower than conforming rates, thinning from a 13-basis-point spread. Jumbo rates were just 7 BPS lower than conforming rates 12 months ago.
