Escalation in applications for loans to finance a home purchase offset a descension in the volume of applications for mortgage refinances.
The Market Composite Index for the week that ended on Dec. 2 moved lower by less than 1 percent compared to one week earlier.
But the index, which is a measure of residential loan application volume, jumped by 39 percent when seasonal adjustments are excluded.
The index is derived from the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey produced by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
MBA reported that refinance applications slipped a percent from the week that included Thanksgiving — very significant given that there are no seasonal adjustments made to the Refinance Index. Refinance share widened, though, to 56.2 percent from 55.1 percent in the week ended Nov. 25. Refinance share was 58.7 percent in the same week a year ago.
Applications for
purchase financing were basically unchanged from the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis. Without seasonal adjustments, purchase-money activity soared 36 percent and increased 3 percent from the week ended Dec. 4, 2015.
The share of total applications that were for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration was 11.3 percent. FHA share widened from 10.4 percent a week earlier but thinned from 14.0 percent a year earlier.
Applications for loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs made up 12.6 percent of the latest activity. VA share was fatter than 11.7 percent in the last report
and 10.8 percent the same week last year.
Interest rates on jumbo mortgages were 5 basis points less than rates on conforming loans,
the same as in last week’s report. The jumbo-conforming spread was more narrow, however, than the negative 12 BPS twelve months earlier.
The report indicated that applications for adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 6.0 percent of all activity,
more than 5.7 percent in the prior report. ARM share thinned, though, from 6.2 percent a year prior.
