Mortgage Apps Up, In Spite of Refi Activity Drop

The MBA’s latest mortgage application survey is out, which shows the composite index of aggregate application volume jumping up 1.1 percent on a seasonally-adjusted and week-to-week basis; the composite index also came in up 25.3 percent on a YOY basis. This is surprisingly good news amid continued signs of stress in the mortgage bond market and a rate environment that has been flat to increasing as of late. But the jump in overall applications wasn’t being driven by refi activity, which saw a steep decline of 3.0 percent from one week earlier; the decline was offset by an even stronger surge in purchase applications, which rose 3.8 percent. Not surprisingly, the refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 36.2 percent of total applications from 37.8 percent the previous week. ARM share also decreased, heading to 20.4 from 21.0 percent of total applications from the previous week. Read the full press statement here.