As interest rates pulled back last week, refinancing drove mortgage application activity slightly higher. The Mortgage Bankers Association said that its Market Composite Index, a measure of application volume, increased 1.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended August 15 and was up 1 percent on an unadjusted basis.
Refinancing activity increased to a 55 percent share of mortgage applications from 54 percent the previous week and the Refinance Index increased 3 percent. The spike in refinancing was offset by a decline in applications for purchase mortgages and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 0.4 percent from the week ended August 8.
The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent from the previous week and was 11 percent lower than during the same week in 2013.
The average contract interest rates and the effective rates of all mortgage products declined during the week. The average interest rate of 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRM) with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) decreased to 4.29 percent from 4.35 percent, with points increasing to 0.26 from 0.22. The average rate for 30-year jumbo FRM (balances greater than $417,000) fell six basis points to 4.18 percent while points increased to 0.23 from 0.19.
Information from Mortgage News Daily
