Fewer prospective mortgage borrowers applied for a new home loan last week, and it was applications to refinance that took the biggest hit.
An indicator of the level of borrowers applying for new mortgages, the Market Composite Index, fell 5 percent in the week ended Feb. 26.
The index, which is adjusted to compensate for seasonal variations, reportedly covers three-quarters of all U.S. retail mortgage applications.
The Mortgage Bankers Association included the index in its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.
A 7 percent rise from the prior week was recorded without any seasonal adjustments.
There was a seasonally adjusted 7 percent drop in refinance applications compared to the week ended Feb. 19.
At 58.6 percent, refinance share thinned from 61.0 percent in the last report to the most-narrow level since January.
Applications for purchase financing slipped 1 percent. But without any seasonal adjustments, the Purchase Index climbed 14 percent from a week earlier and 27 percent from a year earlier.
Adjustable-rate mortgage applications accounted for
5.6 percent of overall activity. ARM share was trimmed from 5.8 percent a week previous.
At 12.0 percent, the share of Federal Housing Administration-insured applications was no different than in the previous report.
Department of Veterans Affairs-guaranteed applications represented 12.1 percent of total applications, less than the 13.0 percent in the week-earlier report.
The jumbo-conforming spread was a negative eight basis points.
The spread widened from seven days earlier, when jumbo mortgage rates were five BPS less than conforming rates.
