New mortgage business was relatively flat this week despite an improvement in government-insured activity. Also moving higher were purchase financing inquiries and jumbo business.
With virtually no change from the previous report, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from LoanSifter and Mortgage Daily for the week ended March 21 was 174. The index reflects average pricing inquiries per LoanSifter user.
Activity was more than a third lower, however, than the same week in 2013. Year-earlier numbers were revised to reflect figures from the same data provider.
The biggest week-over-week gain was made with inquiries for Federal Housing Administration-insured loans, which increased 8 percent from the week ended March 14. FHAÂ business, however, was down more than a third from a year earlier. FHAÂ share rose to 16.9 percent from the previous week’s 15.6 percent and the year earlier’s 16.6 percent.
Up next was the purchase financing category, which improved 4 percent from the last report and was 15 percent better than in the week ended March 22, 2013.
Inquiries for jumbo mortgages moved 3 percent higher and have risen 16 percent over the past year. Jumbo share widened to 10.2 percent from the previous week’s 9.9 percent and the year-earlier share of 16.5 percent.
The difference between jumbo interest rates and conforming rates was 5 basis points better than the 6-basis-point spread in the last report. The jumbo-conforming spread was 23 BPS in the same week last year.
A decline of less than 1 percent was recorded for adjustable-rate mortgage inquiries. But ARM activity has surged 80 percent from 12 months ago — the biggest year-over-year gain of any category. ARM share, meanwhile, slipped to just under 13.7 percent from just over 13.7 percent in the last report but was far fatter than 4.9 percent one year prior.
Conventional business retreated by 2 percent from last week and sank 43 percent from the same week last year.
The worst week-over-week performance was delivered by the refinance category, which contracted 5 percent. Refinance inquiries have plunged 58 percent on a year-over-year basis.
The share of this week’s activity that was refinance was 43.7 percent, down from 45.7 percent seven days earlier and 68.0 percent a year earlier. The most recent share reflected a 30.0 percent rate-term share and a 13.7 percent cashout share.
Business might have better had it not been for average 30-year fixed rates, which rose to 4.694 percent from 4.677 percent. Thirty-year rates were just 3.841 percent a year ago.
The spread between 15- and 30-year mortgages narrowed to 99 BPS from 102 BPS but stood far wider than 76 BPS one year prior.
Fixed rates are unlikely to be much different in the next Mortgage Market Index report based on the week’s Treasury market activity.
Data from the Department of the Treasury indicate that the yield on the 10-year Treasury note — which is tracked by fixed mortgage rates — averaged 2.74 percent during the week covered by the latest index. The 10-year yield closed at 2.75 percent Friday.
