Tag Archives: Mortgage Applications

Fewer homebuyers filed for mortgage loans last week, with applications falling on average by 9.6 percent from the week before, according to a weekly survey released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Cresting on low tides in credit supply and buyer confidence, fewer first-time and repeat homebuyers filed mortgage applications last week, according to a weekly survey released by the Mortgage Bankers Association Wednesday. The MBA said that overall mortgage loan application volume dropped 2.4 percent, with purchases slamming into a 15-year low. The Market Composite Index, which the MBA uses to gauge loan application activity, showed a seasonally adjusted squeeze in loan volume.

Dashing hopes for a more moderate fall, existing-home sales rolled downhill by 3.5 percent in July, with single-family sales hitting a seasonally adjusted 4.67-million annual rate. The National Association of Realtors ascribed the new numbers to tight underwriting practices, a crimped credit supply, and sluggish job creation. The NAR, which released an existing-home sales report Thursday, held that single-family townhomes, condominiums, and coops dropped from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.84 million units over June.

Mortgage applications jumped by 4.1 percent this week, up from one week earlier, reflecting rock bottom for 15-year fixed-rate loans and unsure homebuyers still eager to refinance. Meanwhile, home purchases fell, according to a weekly survey made public by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Good for mortgage rates, the low numbers persist in driving few homebuyers back to a jumpy and uncertain market. Contract rates for 15-year loans fell hit rock bottom for the first time in the history of the survey.

More homeowners and mortgage borrowers who chose to refinance their loans opted for the fixed-rate loan instead of adjustable-rate mortgages over the second quarter this year, according to a Freddie Mac quarterly report released Monday. The GSE held that some 37 percent of borrowers refinancing their mortgages moved forward with 15- and 20-year loans. Refinancing borrowers nodded toward these fixed-rate loans in increasing numbers, according to the report.

Coupled with an interest in conforming jumbo loans, a wave of uncertainty over economic news helped throw homeowners into a refinancing frenzy last week, feeding a surge in mortgage applications across the board. Despite upticks, purchase applications continued to flat-line in a market overshadowed by weak consumer confidence, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Speaking to MReport, MBA VP Mike Fratatoni added his two cents about S&P's downgrades and the nation's long-term debt crisis.

In a weekly survey released Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers Association revealed a 7.1 percent swell in mortgage applications from one week earlier, partly in response to declining mortgage rates. According to the Market Composite Index, which measures total mortgage loan application volume, numbers went up 7.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, increasing at nearly the same percent on an unadjusted basis. From the previous week, the Refinance Index shot up 7.8 percent, alongside updrafts in the Purchase Index.

Citing dips in home sales, purchases, and low job growth, some economists say housing is already in a double-dip recession, with reprieve still off for another two years - this despite a last-minute debt deal.

Plummeting refinance applications crimped Federal Housing Administration mortgage loan applications over June, according to a report issued by the federal agency, with total volume falling 22 percent less than volume at the same time last year. The FHA attributed the plunge to a 50 percent decline in year-over-year numbers for refinance applications. Data from June last year suggests a sharp decline in refinance loan applications, which dropped from 69,876 to 35,367 last month.

As reflected by a weekly survey released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association, the number of mortgage applications filed by homebuyers declined 5.0 percent from the previous week. The survey showed a dip by 5.0 percent in mortgage loan application volume, as measured by the Market Composite Index, with a corresponding 4.9 percent decline on an unadjusted basis from the week ending July 22. The Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey reviews half of all residential mortgage applications.