Weekly mortgage business maintained the pace of the previous seven-day period. Increased refinance activity was offset by lower demand for loans to finance a residential property purchase.
In the week that concluded on Aug. 4, the Mortgage Daily U.S. Mortgage Market Index was 155. The index is a tool for gauging upcoming originations based on OpenClose rate-lock volume.
Weekly activity was off less than a percent from the prior report. Business has retreated by more than a fifth when compared to the same seven-day period last year. No seasonal adjustments are made to the data.
Rate locks for adjustable-rate mortgages tumbled 10 percent from the preceding report, giving the category the biggest week-over-week decline. But ARM rate locks have increased 27 percent from the week ended Aug. 5, 2016. ARM share was cut to 8.9 percent from 9.9 percent a week earlier but widened from 5.5 percent a year earlier.
Jumbo business fell 8 percent from the prior week and sank 46 percent from a year prior — the biggest year-over-year drop. Jumbo share was 6.6 percent, slightly more narrow than 7.2 percent the previous week. But jumbo share has been cut from 9.6 percent this week last year. Jumbo interest rates were 5 basis points higher than conforming rates. The jumbo-conforming spread diminished from 8 BPS in the last report and 11 BPS the same period in 2016.
Government activity declined 7 percent from the week ended July 28 and the same week in 2016. Government share thinned to 37.9 percent from 40.7 percent but was wider than 31.7 percent this week last year. The latest share was comprised of a 27.8 percent FHA share and a 10.2 percent VA share.
A 5 percent week-over-week decline was recorded for the Purchase MMI, which landed at 107. Purchase business has fallen 8 percent from the same week in 2016.
Rate locks for conventional mortgages rose 4 percent, pushing the Conventional MMI up to 96. Conventional volume was down, though, 29 percent on a year-over-year basis.
Refinance activity was robust, with an 11 percent improvement recorded. Still, refinance rate locks have slowed by 42 percent since the same point last year. Refinance share fattened to 31.3 percent from 28.0 percent but was thinner than 41.9 percent a year ago.
Most recently, refinance share consisted of a 14.6 percent rate-term share and a 16.8 percent cashout share.
