Mortgage applications down 4.5% on slower home sales, refinancings
Mortgage applications fell 4.5% for the week ending Feb. 17 on lower refinance activity and fewer home purchases, an industry trade group said.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its market composite index — a measure of mortgage application loan volume — fell 4.5% from the previous week, while the refinance index fell 4.8%.
In addition, the seasonally adjusted purchase index declined 2.9% from a week earlier.
The refinance share of mortgage activity also declined to 80.1% of total applications, down from 81.1% the previous week.
MBA says 57.2% of applications in January were for fixed-rate, 30-year loans, while 24.4% were for 15-year fixed loans and 5.5% for ARMs.
Meanwhile, the average contract interest rate for 30-year FRM's with conforming loan balances of $417,500 or less grew from 4.08% a week earlier to 4.09% in the most recent report.
The average 30-year FRM jumbo loan grew from 4.30% to 4.32%, while the 30-year backed by the FHA remained unchanged at 3.87%.
The 15-year FRM increased to 3.38% from 3.33%.
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs also grew to 2.94% from 2.83%.
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