U.S. Mortgage Loan Applications Eased in the October 25 Week
Summary
- Loan applications to purchase rose and those to refinance a house fell in the latest week.
- The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose sharply in the latest week.
- Average loan size rose slightly.
Mortgage loan applications eased 0.1% (+32.6% y/y) in the week ended October 25, after declining 6.7% (+30.0% y/y) in the week ended October 18, making it the fifth consecutive weekly decline. Applications for loans to purchase a house rose 5.0% (+10.1% y/y) in the week ended October 25, following a decline of 5.1% (+3.4% y/y) in the week ended October 18, while applications to refinance an existing mortgage fell 6.3% (+84.4% y/y), after an 8.4% (+90.0% y/y) decline in the prior week. These data are from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.
The effective interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.93% in the week ended October 25, up 22 bps from the 6.71% rate in the week ended October 18. The effective rate on a 15-year fixed rate mortgage was 6.46% in the latest week, up 32 bps from the 6.14% rate in the October 18 week. The rate on 30-year Jumbo loans rose 1 bps to 6.91% in the October 25 week, while the rate on 5-year ARM loans rose 9 bps to 6.41% in the latest week from 6.32% in the prior week.
The share of loan applications to refinance an existing mortgage was 43.1% in the week ended October 25, down from 45.7% in the week ended October 18. The share of applications for ARMs was 6.4% in the latest week, up from 6.1% in the prior week.
The average size of a mortgage loan application was $385,600 in the week ended October 25, up 0.6% w/w from $383,200 in the week ended October 18. The average size of a loan to purchase a house rose 0.2% w/w to $447,200 in the October 25 week from $446,300 in the prior week. The average size of a loan to refinance dropped 1.3% w/w to $304,200 in the October 25 week from $308,200 in the October 18 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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