Heading into the Presidents Day holiday weekend, new refinance activity sank — driving down overall mortgage business. But adjustable-rate business soared.
A gauge of upcoming residential loan originations, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from OpenClose and Mortgage Daily, was 123 in the week ended Feb. 17.
The index, which is determined based on average per-user rate-lock volume by customers of OpenClose, tumbled 17 percent compared to the previous week.
Activity slowed 21 percent from the same week last year.
There are no adjustments made to the MMI for seasonal variations.
Rate locks for jumbo mortgages sank 46 percent from the week ended Feb. 10 — more than any other category. Jumbo volume, however, ascended 3 percent from 52 weeks previous. Jumbo share was slashed to 6.0 percent from 9.2 percent but widened from 4.6 percent the same week in 2016.
The most-recent week’s interest rates on jumbo loans were 6 basis points less than conforming rates, thinning from a negative 11 BPS in the last report. The jumbo-conforming
spread was also more narrow than a negative 7 BPS a year ago.
The next-biggest decline was with refinances, which tumbled 31 percent on a week-over-week basis. Refinance business plunged 43 percent from the downwardly revised level a year previous. Refinance share was cut to 30.7 percent from 36.5 percent the prior week and the downwardly revised 42.2 percent from the week ended Feb. 19, 2016. The latest week’s share was comprised of a 15.0 percent rate-term share and a 15.6 percent cashout share.
The Conventional MMI dropped 19 percent from the previous week to 77.
A 16 percent decline from one week prior left the Government MMI at 46. Government share widened to 37.4 percent from 36.5 percent in the last report. The latest government share consisted of a 27.7 percent FHA share and a 9.7 percent VA share.
Rate locks for
loans to finance a home purchase were off by a 10th, placing the Purchase MMI at 86. Purchase activity dipped 5 percent from the upwardly revised level a year previous.
The only category to experience a week-over-week gain was the adjustable-rate mortgage category: 31 percent. ARM business was up 10 percent from one year earlier. ARM share widened to 10.8 percent from 6.8 percent and was also fatter than 7.7 percent a year ago.
