Weekly mortgage activity edged higher as demand for government-insured products strengthened. Government activity soared by more than half from a year ago.
During the week that came to an end on April 22, the Mortgage Daily U.S. Mortgage Market Index, a reflection of rate-lock volume at OpenClose, landed at 189.
New residential lending activity was up minimally from the previous report, rising by less than a percent from the index level in place as of seven days sooner.
Compared to 12 months earlier, the index has increased 11 percent. Year-earlier figures were revised to reflect statistics from the same data provider.
Rate locks for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration were up more than 2 percent from the week ended April 15, the best week-over-week improvement.
FHA business has leapt by more than half from the same week in 2015.
FHA share widened to 25.0 percent from 24.7 percent the prior week and 18.4 percent a year prior.
At nearly the same week-over-week increase as FHA, the Purchase MMI was 89. Purchase business has risen by more than a fifth compared to this week last year.
A less than 1 percent week-over-week rise was recorded for conventional lending,
while a less than 2 percent increase was noted from the week ended April 24, 2015.
The volume of rate locks for adjustable-rate mortgages fell 8 percent from both a week and year earlier. ARM share, meanwhile, thinned to 7.8 percent from 8.5 percent in the previous report and 9.4 percent in the year-earlier report.
With a slightly more severe decline from the last report, the Refinance MMI was 118 in the latest report. One year previous, the index was 100.
Rate locks for refinances accounted for 62.6 percent of all activity, thinning from refinance share of 68.4 percent seven days earlier but wider than 58.8 percent one year earlier. The latest share consisted of a 39.5 percent rate-term share and a 23.1 percent cashout share.
Taking the biggest dive were rate locks for jumbo mortgages, which sank 22 percent from the previous report. The volatile category was down 41 percent on a year-over-year basis. Jumbo share slipped to 6.8 percent from 8.8 percent in the last report and sank from 12.8 percent in the year-earlier report.
Interest rates on jumbo loans were 4 basis points more than conforming rates. The jumbo-conforming spread doubled from 2 BPS the prior week and a year prior.
Conforming 30-year fixed rates averaged 3.59 percent, up a basis point for the week but down 47 BPS for the year.
Rates on 15-year loans were 74 BPS less than 30-year rates. The spread widened from 72 BPS a week earlier but was smaller than 85 BPS a year earlier.
An analysis of Treasury market activity by Mortgage Daily indicates that fixed mortgage rates could surge around 8 BPS in the next report.
