Mortgage Application Volumes Drop in U.S.

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According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 26, mortgage applications decreased 4.7 percent from one week earlier.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 4.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 5 percent compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index decreased 5 percent from the previous week to its lowest level since December 2014.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 5 percent compared with the previous week and was 14 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 48.9 percent of total applications from 49.0 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 7.0 percent of total applications.

The FHA share of total applications increased to 14.0 percent from 13.9 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications decreased to 10.8 percent from 10.9 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications increased to 1.0 percent from 0.9 percent the week prior.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increased to 4.26 percent, its highest level since October 2014, from 4.19 percent, with points decreasing to 0.33 from  0.38 (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 4.21 percent, its highest level since October 2014, from 4.14 percent, with points increasing to 0.38 from 0.35 (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 4.04 percent, its highest level since September 2014, from 3.96 percent, with points increasing to 0.18 from 0.14 (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 increased to 3.44 percent, its highest level since October 2014, from 3.38 percent, with points decreasing to 0.31 from 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 3.09 percent from 3.04 percent, with points decreasing to 0.45 from 0.46 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.