Activity on prospective new mortgages declined this past week. But one category, loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, moved higher.
At 245 for the week ended Jan. 23, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from LoanSifter/Optimal Blue and Mortgage Daily was down 10 percent from a week earlier.
The index, which reflects the average volume of per-user product-and-pricing inquiries by LoanSifter clients, was 56 percent higher than in the same week last year.
Leading the week-over-week decline were inquiries for jumbo mortgages. Jumbo activity
declined 13 percent from the week ended Jan. 16 but stood two-thirds higher than a year earlier. Jumbo share fell to 10.1 percent from 10.5 percent but was wider than 9.5 percent this week in 2014.
Interest rates on jumbo mortgages were 19 basis points higher than on conforming loans. The jumbo-conforming spread widened from 15 percent in the prior report and 13 BPS in the year-earlier report.
Conventional loan inquiries subsided 13 percent but were 57 percent stronger than in the week ended Jan. 24, 2014.
A 12 percent decline from seven days earlier was recorded for refinances. But refinance volume has more than doubled compared to a year earlier.
Refinance share narrowed to 67.6 percent from 69.5 percent but was far wider than 48.7 percent one year prior. The latest proportion was made up of a 53.1 percent rate-term share and a 14.5 percent cashout share.
Inquiries for adjustable-rate mortgages slid 11 percent for the week but ascended 17 percent from the same week last year. ARM share was 9.4 percent versus 9.5 percent in the prior report and 12.5 percent in the year-earlier report.
Inquiries for purchase financing were off 4 percent and just 1 percent shy of the year-prior period.
The only category to show a week-over-week gain was FHA, with FHA inquiries rising 6 percent. Government-insured activity was 64 percent higher than this week in 2014. The strong performance came as mortgage insurance premiums on FHA-insured loans were recently reduced.
Weekly activity slowed as interests rates rose. Thirty-year fixed rates averaged 4.024 percent, up a basis point from the previous report but 67 BPS lower than in the year-prior report.
The spread between 15- and 30-year mortgages slipped to 82 BPS from 84 BPS and was well below 97 BPS the same week in 2013.
Mortgage Daily’s analysis of this week’s Treasury market activity points to a roughly four-basis-point rise in fixed rates by the next report.
