U.S. Mortgage Applications Rose in the First Week of September

Mortgage loan applications rose 1.4% (28.3% y/y) in the week ended September 6, after a gain of 1.6% (25.5% y/y) in the week ended August 30. Applications for home purchase loans rose 1.8% (-3.5% y/y) following a rise of 3.3% (-4.1% y/y) during the prior week. Applications to refinance a mortgage rose 0.9% (106.5% y/y) in the week ended September 6, after a decline of 0.3% (+93.6% y/y) in the week ended August 30. These data are from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.

The effective interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate loans declined 14bps to 6.45% in the week ended September 6, down from 6.59% in the week ended August 30, and reaching the lowest rate since the first week of April 2023. This year’s high of 7.48% was reached at the end of April. The effective rate on 15-year fixed-rate loans dropped 24bps to 5.90% in the latest week from 6.14% the week before. The last time the rate was below 6.0% was in the first week of April 2023. The rate on 30-year Jumbo loans dropped 18bps to 6.65% in the week ended September 6 from 6.83% in the week ended August 30, while the rate on 5-year ARM loans plummeted 30bps to 5.96% in the latest week from 6.26%. The recent high of 7.31% was reached last October.

The share of applications to refinance an existing loan rose to 46.7% in the week ended September 6 from 46.4% in the week ended August 30. The latest figures are increased from a low of 27.2% averaged in April 2023. The share of applications for ARMs eased to 5.4% last week from 5.5% in the prior week, and matching the low reached in the week ended January 5.

The average size of mortgage loans rose 1.6% (4.4% y/y) to $384,300 in the week ended September 6 after a similar weekly rise of 1.6% (4.6% y/y) to $378,200 in the week ended August 30. The average size of a loan to purchase a home edged down 0.5% (+3.0% y/y) to $425,200 last week from a small gain of 0.1% (4.5% y/y) to $427,400 in the prior week. The size of a refinanced loan rose 5.1% (30.4% y/y) to $337,600 in the week ended September 6 after a rise of 3.9% (27.5% y/y) to $321,200 in the week ended August 30.

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.