U.S. Mortgage Applications Declined in the Latest Week
Summary
- Overall mortgage applications retrenched in the week of January 27.
- Applications for loans to both purchase and refinance declined in the latest week.
- The average effective rates on 30-year fixed loans declined for the third consecutive week.
Mortgage applications declined 9.0% (-62.4% y/y) in the week ended January 27, the first decline in a month and following the 7.0% rise (-53.7% y/y) in the week ended January 20. These data come from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. Applications for loans to purchase a house dropped 10.3% (-41.0% y/y) from the weekly rise of 3.4% (-31.6% y/y) in the prior week. Applications for refinancing a loan declined 7.1% (-80.2% y/y) in the week ended January 27 following the 14.6% (-74.8% y/y) rise in the week ended January 20.
The share of applications for refinancing an existing loan was 31.2% in the week ended January 27, down from 31.9% in the week of January 20. The percentage of applications that were ARMs was 6.70%, up from 6.5% the prior week.
The effective rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan declined 2 bps to 6.38% in the week ended January, its lowest level since September 2022, but still sharply higher than the 3.89% rate that prevailed in the week of January 28, 2022. The rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose 1 bp to 5.68% in the week of January 27. The rate on 30-year Jumbo loans rose by 9 bps to 6.13% in the January 27 week. The rate on the 5-year ARM declined 6 bps to 5.68%.
The average loan size rose 0.6% w/w to $370,700 in the week ended January 27. The series high of $401,900 was reached in the week ended May 6. The average size of a purchase loan rose 0.4% w/w to $416,800 in the week ended January 27. The average loan size to refinance a mortgage eased 0.1% w/w to $269,000 in the January 20 week.
The Mortgage Bankers 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.
Kathleen Stephansen, CBE
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Kathleen Stephansen is a Senior Economist for Haver Analytics and an Independent Trustee for the EQAT/VIP/1290 Trust Funds, encompassing the US mutual funds sponsored by the Equitable Life Insurance Company. She is a former Chief Economist of Huawei Technologies USA, Senior Economic Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, Chief Economist of the American International Group (AIG) and AIG Asset Management’s Senior Strategist and Global Head of Sovereign Research. Prior to joining AIG in 2010, Kathleen held various positions as Chief Economist or Head of Global Research at Aladdin Capital Holdings, Credit Suisse and Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette Securities Corporation.
Kathleen serves on the boards of the Global Interdependence Center (GIC), as Vice-Chair of the GIC College of Central Bankers, is the Treasurer for Economists for Peace and Security (EPS) and is a former board member of the National Association of Business Economics (NABE). She is a member of Chatham House and the Economic Club of New York. She holds an undergraduate degree in economics from the Universite Catholique de Louvain and graduate degrees in economics from the University of New Hampshire (MA) and the London School of Economics (PhD abd).
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