With September completely over, the latest National Appraisal Volume Index from a la mode gives a full picture of how the month performed, revealing that only one week posted a rise for the whole month.

The month suffered from the impact of the Labor Day holiday toward the beginning of the month, which caused a 9.7% drop in appraisal volume. However, the dent was better than the average 13.1% decline for the holiday week.

The following week quickly picked up the slack and posted a 14% increase, which is also the only rise for the month, offsetting the other declines to keep the average for the month in the positive.

Appraisal volume in the next week posted a slight .2% decline. Then there is the most recent week of Sept. 25, which recorded a 1.5% drop.

This leaves the four-week average for the month at 1.2%.

Check the chart below, which is provided exclusively to HousingWire, for an overview of appraisal volume over the past four weeks.

Click to enlarge

(Source: a la mode)

Kevin Golden, director of analytics with a la mode, added that the NAVI has fallen five of the last six weeks, with the only exception being the rebound week after the slow Labor Day week. 

Appraisal volume is an indicator of market strength and holds some advantages over weekly mortgage applications.