The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a week-over-week increase of 1.3% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending April 15. Mortgage loan rates ticked higher on 30-year loans last week and fell slightly on other types of loans.
On an unadjusted basis, the composite index increased by 2% week over week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased by 1% compared with the week ended April 8. The unadjusted purchase index increased by 1% for the week and is now 17% higher year over year.
The MBA’s refinance index increased by 3% week over week and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing rose from 54.9% to 55.4%. The prior week’s low rates likely had a positive impact on refinancings.
Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 5% of all applications, unchanged from the previous week.
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The market for mortgage-backed securities (MBS) rose on Monday following the failure of the Doha meeting of oil-producing nations to reach an agreement on capping output. Traders dumped their oil positions and piled into bonds. Mortgage loans, which tag along with MBS, moved higher on Monday, but only slightly. On Tuesday bonds moved lower, but the market for MBS hardly changed at all, according to Mortgage News Daily.
According to the MBA, last week’s average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased from 3.82% to 3.83%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased from 3.74% to 3.77%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased from 3.10% to 3.06%.
The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan also fell, from 2.94% to 2.91%. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed-rate loan fell from 3.66% to 3.64%.
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