U.S. Mortgage Applications Rose in the Latest Week
Summary
- Applications for loans to purchase eased in the latest week.
- Applications to refinance a loan jumped 12.3%.
- The effective 30-year fixed rate was steady in the latest week.
Mortgage applications rose 3.7% (-12.9% y/y) in the week ended February 2, after declining 7.2% (-13.1% y/y) in the week ended January 26. These data come from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. Applications for loans to purchase a home eased 0.6% (-18.6% y/y) last week following a drop of 11.4% (-18.8% y/y) in the week earlier. In contrast, applications to refinance a loan jumped 12.3% (0.7% y/y) in early February, after a rise of 1.6% (3.0% y/y) in the last week of January.
The share of applications for refinancing an existing loan rose to 35.4% in the week ended February 2, up from 34.2% in the week ended January 26. The percentage of applications that were ARMs declined to 6.4% in the latest week from 6.6% in the prior week, which was the highest percentage since early-December.
The effective rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan was unchanged at 6.97% in the week ended February 2. It has been near that level for six weeks and below the 8.12% high in mid-October. The rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose 11bps to 6.58% in the latest week. The rate on 30-year Jumbo loan eased 6bps to 7.02% in the week ended February 2, while the rate on the 5-year ARM dropped 14bps to 6.31% in the latest week.
The average loan size declined 2.1% (-0.4% y/y) to $376,600 in the week ended February 2, after a rise of 2.0% (3.8% y/y) to $384,800 in the prior week. The average size of a purchase loan posted a similar decline of 2.1% (+2.4% y/y) to $434,800 in the latest week, following a 4.5% (7.0% y/y) rise to $444,100 in the January 26 week. The average loan size to refinance a mortgage eased 0.1% (-0.6% y/y) to $270,500 in the latest week after a decline of 2.8% (+3.4% y/y) to $270,700 in the prior week.
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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