Loan originators, except those who originate jumbo mortgages, were less busy this past week with residential lending activity. Home purchase financing took the biggest hit.
For the seven-day period that finished on July 21, the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortgage Daily, an origination forecasting tool based on rate-lock volume at OpenClose, was 152.
Compared to the preceding week, the index — which is not adjusted for seasonal factors — retreated 12 percent. A 14 percent decline was recorded versus the same week one year prior.
Out front of the week-over-week slowdown was the Purchase MMI, which slid more than 12 percent from the week ended July 14 to 104. Purchase business was off just 6 percent from the same week last year.
A nearly 12 percent drop from a week earlier left the Conventional MMI at 92. The category has deteriorated by 21 percent since the week ended July 22, 2016.
Rate locks for adjustable-rate mortgages declined 11.3 percent but have accelerated 42 percent from a year earlier. At 9.8 percent, ARM share was no different than in the last report but was wider than 6.0 percent the same week last year.
The Government MMI retreated 11.1 percent from the prior week but was unchanged from the same week a year ago. Government share was 39.2 percent, slightly more broad than 39.0 percent in the previous seven-day period and much wider than 33.7 percent in the same seven days during 2017. Most recently, government share was comprised of a 26.9 percent FHA share and a 12.3 percent VA share.
Refinance rate locks retreated a 10th and have slowed by nearly 27 percent from twelve months previous. Refinance share was 31.4 percent, wider than 30.8 percent the preceding week but much thinner than 37.0 percent the same week in 2016. The latest share was made up of a 14.1 percent rate-term share and a 17.3 percent cashout share.
However, one index — the Jumbo MMI — saw a week-over-week improvement: 13 percent. Still, jumbo business declined 14 percent from the year-prior period. Jumbo share thickened to 7.3 percent from 5.8 percent and was 7.4 percent in the same seven days during 2016. The jumbo-conforming spread thinned to 7 basis points from 10 BPS one week earlier and 18 BPS twelve months earlier.
