Mortgage Applications Dip in U.S.

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According the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 24, 2014, mortgage applications decreased 6.6 percent from one week earlier.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 6.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 7 percent compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index decreased 7 percent from the previous week.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 5 percent from one week earlier.  The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 5 percent compared with the previous week and was 15 percent lower than the same week one year ago.  The seasonally adjusted purchase index and conventional purchase index were the lowest since February 2014, while the government purchase index was the lowest since August 2007.

"Borrowers with jumbo loans tend to be most sensitive to changes in rates, and that sensitivity has been clearly apparent in the past few weeks with double and even triple digit percentage changes in refinance application volume for jumbo loans," said Mike Fratantoni, MBA's Chief Economist.  "The average loan size for refinance applications decreased to $263,600 in the most recent week from a survey high of $306,400 the previous week.  The decrease was driven by a 41 percent drop in refinance applications for loans greater than $729,000, which had surged almost 130 percent the week before."

The refinance share of mortgage activity remained unchanged at 65 percent of total applications from the previous week.  The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 8.2 percent of total applications.

The FHA share of total applications increased from 8.3 percent last week to 8.9 percent this week.  The VA share of total applications increased from 9.6 percent last week to 10.7 percent this week.  The USDA share of total applications increased from 0.8 percent last week to 0.9 percent this week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increased to 4.13 percent from 4.10 percent, with points remaining unchanged at  0.21 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) increased to 4.13 percent from 4.03 percent, with points decreasing to 0.13 from 0.20 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 3.84 percent from 3.81 percent, with points increasing to 0.16 from 0.07 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages remained unchanged at 3.28 percent, with points increasing to 0.24 from 0.22 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate remained unchanged from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs remained unchanged at 2.94 percent, with points increasing to 0.43 from 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.