New mortgage business took a giant leap following Mothers Day. Although jumbo rates deteriorated, new jumbo activity doubled during the latest seven-day period.
An indicator of upcoming residential loan originations, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortgage Daily and OpenClose, was 185 in the week ended May 19.
The index, which is determined based on average rate-lock volume per OpenClose user, jumped 26 percent when compared to the preceding week.
A 3 percent gain was made versus the week ended May 20, 2016. There are no seasonal adjustments made to the index.
Out front of the week-over-week increase were rate locks for jumbo mortgages, which soared 100 percent from the week ended May 12, 2017. Jumbo business has ascended 52 percent from the same week in 2016. Jumbo share fattened to 9.3 percent from 5.9 percent a week earlier and 6.4 percent a year earlier.
The acceleration in the Jumbo MMI came despite that jumbo interest rates were 3 basis points more than conforming mortgages. Jumbo rates were lower than conforming rates by less than a basis point in the last report but were 9 BPS more one year ago.
The Conventional MMI was up by a third from the previous week to 123.
A more than 26 percent increase from one week prior left the Purchase MMI at 133. Purchase activity has risen 8 percent from the upwardly revised level for the week ended May 20, 2016.
A nearly 26 percent gain was recorded for refinance rate locks, though the category was down 8 percent from the downwardly revised level for the same week last year. Refinance share was 27.9 percent, about the same as last week but thinner than the downwardly revised 31.2 percent the same week in 2016. The latest share consisted of a 13.2 percent rate-term share and a 14.7 percent cashout share.
The Government MMI increased 15 percent from one week earlier to 62. Government share was trimmed to 33.5 percent from 36.8 percent. This week’s share was comprised of a 24.9 percent FHA share and an 8.6 percent VA share.
Rate locks for adjustable-rate mortgages moved up 5 percent on a week-over-week basis — the smallest gain. ARM business was unchanged from this week last year. ARM share was cut to 8.9 percent from 10.6 percent one week prior and 9.2 percent one year prior.
