Mortgage business was lifted by an improvement in interest rates. Leading the week-over-week gain was refinance activity.
An 11 percent improvement in new activity from the previous week left the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from LoanSifter/Optimal Blue and Mortgage Daily at 214 for the week ended March 20.
A 23 percent improvement from a year prior was recorded for the index, which is based on average per-user product-and-pricing inquiries pulled by customers of LoanSifter.
Helping to lift new business were inquiries for refinances, which surged 18 percent from the previous reading and were up by more than three-quarters compared to the same week in 2014. Improvement from both prior periods was the biggest of any category.
At 62.5 percent, refinance share widened from 58.9 percent in the week ended March 13 and from 43.7 percent a year earlier. Comprising the latest share was a 46.3 percent rate-term share and a 16.1 percent cashout share.
Adjustable-rate mortgage activity increased nearly 15 percent from the prior report but was down by about the same amount
from the week ended March 21, 2014. ARM share widened to 9.4 percent from 9.1 percent seven days earlier but thinned from 13.7 percent in the year-earlier report.
A 14 percent week-over-week rise was recorded for conventional business, while the year-over-year improvement was 22 percent.
Up next were inquiries for jumbo mortgages, rising 8 pecent from the previous report and 22 percent better than in the same week last year. Jumbo share slipped to 10.1 percent from 10.3 percent and was 10.2 percent this week in 2014.
Interest rates on jumbo mortgages were 7 basis points more than on conforming loans. The jumbo-conforming spread thinned from 10 BPS in the last report but widened from 5 BPS one year prior.
Pricing inquiries for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration inched up 2 percent for the week and climbed 37 percent for the year. FHA share fell to 18.7 percent from 20.3 percent but expanded from 16.9 percent twelve months earlier.
The weakest gain was delivered by the purchase financing category, which was up a mere 1 percent from the prior report and tumbled 18 percent on a year-over-year basis.
Overall activity strengthened as average 30-year conforming fixed rates
fell 5 BPS from the prior week’s report to 4.124 percent. The average has tumbled from 4.694 percent in the year-prior report.
At 84 BPS, the spread between 15- and 30-year rates was off from 85 BPS the previous week. A more substantial decline occurred from the same week
in 2014, when the spread was 99 BPS.
Fixed rates could be another seven BPS better in next week’s report, according to Mortgage Daily’s analysis of Treasury market activity.
