Refinancings drop 4% with purchases up 0.2%

Continuing the long-term trend this year, mortgage applications decreased 2.2% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 25, 2014.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 2.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 2% compared with the previous week.
“Despite mortgage backed security issuance being up 38 percent from the first quarter average, the MBA index continues to show declines.  This suggests that there are fundamental shifts occurring in the market where big players (reporting to the MBA) may be giving up market share or perhaps not holding as many loans in portfolio, thereby pushing up the bond issuance,” said Quicken Loans Vice President Bill Banfield. “In either case, the current level of activity for purchases and refinances has been directional stronger in recent months based on actual security issuance.  With home prices stabilizing from a rapid level of appreciation and interest rates either falling or holding steady recently, I expect to see continued improvements in the purchase arena.”
The Refinance Index decreased 4% from the previous week.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.2% from one week earlier.
The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1% compared with the previous week and was 12% lower than the same week one year ago.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 53% of total applications from 54% the previous week.  The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity remained unchanged at 8% of total applications.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) remained unchanged at 4.33%, with points increasing to 0.24 from 0.23 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) increased to 4.22% from 4.21%, with points increasing to 0.23 from 0.20 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA remained unchanged at 4.03%, with points decreasing to 0.00 from 0.15 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.  The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages remained unchanged at 3.47%, with points decreasing to 0.25 from 0.28 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.  The effective rate remained unchanged from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 3.31% from 3.21%, with points increasing to 0.40 from 0.32 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.