U.S. Mortgage Applications Continue to Rise in Latest Week
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Increase last week is third straight gain.
- More purchase applications offset by dip in refinancing.
- 15-year mortgage rate is little changed.
Mortgage applications rose 0.8% (-1.9% y/y) in the week ended June 21 following a 0.9% gain in the prior week. Applications for home purchase rose 1.2% (-13.2% y/y), following two previous gains. Applications for refinancing eased 0.1% (+25.8% y/y) following a 0.4% decline. These data came from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.
The effective interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan of 7.10% last week compared to 7.12% in the week prior and stood below the recent high of 8.12% in mid-October of last year. It was increased from a low of 6.87% in the fourth week of December. The rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages of 6.64% last week compared to 6.62% in the prior week. The rate on 30-year Jumbo loans eased to 7.21% last week, while the rate on the 5-year ARM fell to 6.48% from 6.63%.
The share of applications for refinancing an existing loan was little changed at 35.1% in the week ended June 21. That compared to a recent high of 39.7% in mid-December. The percentage of applications which were ARMs rose to 6.1% from 6.0% in the previous week. The recent low of 5.4% was reached in early January.
The average loan size rose 0.5% to $374,100 in the week ended June 21 from $372,300 in the prior week. The average loan for purchase loans rose to $430,500 from $430,300 while the average loan for refinancing increased 1.8% to $270,000 from $265,300.
The Mortgage Bankers Association Survey covers 75% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. The base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100. The figures for weekly mortgage applications and interest rates are available in Haver’s SURVEYS database.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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