U.S. Mortgage Applications Rose in the Last Week of August
Summary
- Purchase applications rose & refinancing applications edged down in the last week of August.
- Interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate loan remains near May 2023 low.
- Average loan size rises.
Mortgage loan applications rose1.6% (25.5% y/y) in the week ended August 30, after an unrevised increase of 0.5% (20.1% y/y) in the week ended August 23. Applications for home purchase loans rose 3.3% (-4.1% y/y), following a rise of 0.9% (-9.0% y/y) during the prior week. Applications to refinance a mortgage eased 0.3% (+93.6% y/y) in the week ended August 30, after a decline of 0.1% (+85.2% y/y) in the week ended August 23. These data are from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.
The effective interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate loans eased 1bp to 6.59% in the week ended August 30 from 6.60% in the week ended August 23, and reaching the lowest rate since the first week of May 2023. The recent high of 7.48% was reached at the end of April. The effective rate on 15-year fixed-rate loans rose 9bps to 6.14% in the latest week from 6.05% the week before. The rate on 30-year Jumbo loans edged down 3bps to 6.83% in the week ended August 30 from 6.86% in the week ended August 23, while the rate on 5-year ARM loans edged up 4bps to 6.26% in the latest week from 6.22%. The recent high of 7.31% was reached last October.
The share of applications to refinance an existing loan dropped to 46.4% in the week ended August 30 from 46.6% in the week of August 23. The latest figures are increased from a low of 27.2% averaged in April 2023. The share of applications for ARMs was unchanged at 5.5% last week. A recent low for the ARM share was 5.4% in the week ended January 5.
The average size of mortgage loans rose 1.6% (4.6% y/y) to $378,200 in the week ended August 30 after a decline of 0.1% (+1.3% y/y) to $372,100 in the week ended August 23. The average size of a loan to purchase a home edged up 0.1% (4.5% y/y) to $427,400 last week from a gain of 0.2% (3.4% y/y) to $427,000 in the prior week. The size of a refinanced loan rose 3.9% (27.5% y/y) to $321,200 in the week ended August 30 after a decline of 0.4% (+18.7% y/y) to $309,200 in the week ended August 23.
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.
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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