Led by jumbo activity, new mortgage business slowed during the holiday week. As refinance demand has increased, jumbo pricing has grown less attractive.
A 13 percent decline was recorded from a week earlier in the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from OpenClose and Mortgage Daily for the week ended Feb. 19.
The index, which reflects average per-user rate locks by clients of OpenClose, was also down 13 percent from a year earlier — leaving it most recently at 156.
Numbers from a year previous were revised to reflect figures from the same provider of data.
Rate locks for jumbo mortgages had the biggest decline from the last report: 45 percent. Compared to the week ended Feb. 20, 2015, jumbo activity diminished 60 percent. Jumbo share slid to 4.6 percent from 7.2 percent one week prior and 9.9 percent one year prior.
Jumbo rates were seven basis points lower than conforming rates compared to 14 BPS less in the previous week. But jumbo rates were 14 BPS higher than conforming rates the same week last year.
Adjustable-rate mortgage volume tumbled 21 percent from the week ended Feb. 12 and was down 22 percent from a year ago. ARM share thinned to 7.7 percent from 8.5 percent in the prior report and 8.6 percent in the year-prior report.
A 14 percent week-over-week decline was recorded for conventional business, while the year-over-year decline for the category was 17 percent.
Rate locks for purchase-money mortgages retreated
11.5 percent from the previous week and 14 percent from the same week in the previous year.
An 11.4 percent decline was recorded for rate locks on loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration. FHA business rose, however, 5 percent from this week last year. FHA share inched up to 24.2 percent from 23.7 percent a week earlier and 20.2 percent a year earlier.
The smallest decline was with rate locks for refinances: 11.3 percent. But refinance business has improved by a third from 12 months ago — the strongest year-over-year performance.
Refinance share widened to 90.6 percent from 88.6 percent in the previous report and 59.3 percent in the year-previous report.
This week’s share consisted of a 56.1 percent rate-term share and a 34.5 percent cashout share.
At 3.65 percent, there was no change in 30-year fixed interest rates on conforming mortgages. But 30-year rates were down 47 BPS from the same week in 2015.
On 15-year mortgages, rates were 70 BPS better than on 30-year loans — the same spread as in the last report but far more narrow than 83 BPS in the year-earlier report.
Little change is likely with fixed mortgages rates in the next Mortgage Market Index report based on an analysis of Treasury market activity by Mortgage Daily.
