St Casimirs Mortgage Minute

MBA: Purchase Apps Rise as Refi Apps Fade

The Mortgage Bankers Association says mortgage applications dropped 3.3 percent for the week ending March 11 from the previous week, marking the third consecutive weekly decline. The 0.3 percent increase in the seasonally adjusted purchase index to its highest level since January 2016 was not enough to offset the 6 percent decline in the refinance index. Refinances fell from 56.7 percent of total applications to 55 percent, marking the lowest level since August 2015. The report also shows that the share of total applications decreased from 12 percent to 11.7 percent for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans and from 12.6 percent to 12.3 percent for Veteran Affairs loans, while the share of U.S. Department of Agriculture loans held steady at 0.8 percent of applications. Furthermore, the average contract interest rate rose from 3.89 percent to 3.94 percent for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, from 3.81 percent to 3.86 percent for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances, from 3.71 percent to 3.77 percent for FHA-backed mortgages, from 3.14 percent to 3.22 percent for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, and from 3.2 percent to 3.23 percent for 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgages.

From "MBA: Purchase Apps Rise as Refi Apps Fade"
HousingWire (03/16/16) Swanson, Brena