For each of the past three weeks, loan applications to purchase or refinance a home have dropped. Government-insured share has diminished.
During the seven-day period that ended on July 29, applications for new residential loans were down by 4 percent compared to a week earlier.
That was based on the Market Composite Index —
a measure of mortgage loan application volume that covers 75 percent of all retail applications.
The seasonally adjusted index, which is reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association,
is included in the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.
Mortgage application volume has diminished each week since the seven days ended July 8.
Without adjustments for seasonal factors, the most-recent index was still down 4 percent.
MBA reported that refinance applications retreated 4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. Refinance share, meanwhile, was trimmed to 60.7 percent from 61.1 percent in the week ended July 22. But refinance share widened from the year-prior report, when it was 51.3 percent.
The report indicated that applications for purchase financing dipped 2 percent on a week-over-week basis to the lowest level since February.
Foregoing any seasonal adjustments, purchase activity still slipped 2 percent but was 6 percent better than in the week ended July 31, 2015.
The trade group noted that seasonally adjusted applications for government purchase-money mortgages declined to the slowest pace since November 2015.
The latest report indicated that applications for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration made up 9.4 percent of overall volume, off from 10.1 percent the previous week and tumbling from 13.8 percent a year prior.
Another 12.1 percent of applications were for loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. VA share was up, though, from 11.9 percent in the last report and and 10.5 percent in the year-earlier report.
Jumbo interest rates were 2 basis points less than conforming rates. The jumbo-conforming spread was no different than in last week’s report
and widened from a negative 5 BPS in the report from a year ago.
Applications for adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 4.7 percent of total activity,
the same as a week earlier but thinner than 6.8 percent a year earlier.
