Loan originators were busier coming out of the holiday week helped, in part, by better interest rates. Adjustable-rate activity led the charge.
With an increase of 13 percent from the week that included Presidents Day, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from LoanSifter and Mortgage Daily finished the week ended Feb. 28 at 164.
But compared to the same week in 2013, the index was down 45 percent. The year-earlier figures were revised to reflect numbers from the same data provider.
Leading the week-over-week increase were pricing inquiries for adjustable-rate mortgages, which jumped 17.6 percent from the week ended Feb. 20. ARM business was 74 percent higher than one year prior.
ARM share rose to 13.7 percent from 13.2 percent and has more than tripled from 4.3 percent 12 months ago.
The next-biggest week-over-week gainer was the conventional loan category, with activity increasing 15 percent. But conventional business was down by half from the week ended March 1, 2013.
An 11 percent gain was made in purchase financing. Inquiries for purchases slipped less than 1 percent from this week last year.
After that were inquiries for Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages, which increased 10 percent. FHA business, however, has fallen 51 percent over the past year.
FHAÂ share drifted down to 15.4 percent from 15.8 percent. Government share also thinned from a year ago, when it was 17.3 percent.
The week’s weakest performance was turned in by the jumbo category, with jumbo inquiries up just 7 percent. Jumbo activity was 2 percent higher than this week in 2013. Jumbo share fell to 9.7 percent from 10.2 percent but has soared from 5.2 percent a year earlier.
Interest rates on jumbo mortgages were 6 basis points higher than conforming rates, not quite as good as the 5-basis-point spread in place last week. But the jumbo-conforming spread was much more narrow than 25 BPS a year ago.
Fixed rates on conforming 30-year mortgages averaged 4.647 percent, off slightly from 4.669 percent in the previous report. A year earlier, 30-year rates averaged 3.799 percent.
Pricing inquiries for 15-year loans yielded quotes that were 101 BPS better than on 30-year mortgages. The spread widened from 100 BPS seven days earlier.
Thirty-year rates could be slightly higher in the next report based on Treasury market activity.
Data provided by the Department of the Treasury indicate that the yield on the 10-year Treasury note — a benchmark for fixed mortgage rates — averaged 2.69 percent during the week reflected in the latest Mortgage Market Index report. The 10-year yield closed at 2.66 percent Friday.
