Mortgage application volume increased 6.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ending June 2, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today.
It was helped along by a 9.2 percent increase in refinance activity, which was offset by a 2.0 percent decline in purchase applications.
The refinance index climbed to its highest point since May 15, 2009, while the purchase index fell for the eighth time in the past nine weeks.
That pushed the refinance share of mortgage activity to 78.7 percent of total applications from 76.8 percent the previous week.
Meanwhile, mortgage rates inched up thanks to continued economic uncertainty (how mortgage rates work).
The popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 4.68 percent from 4.67 percent, while the 15-year fixed climbed to 4.11 percent from 4.06 percent.
The unpopular one-year adjustable-rate mortgage jumped to 7.20 percent from 7.05 percent, which explains its unpopularity.
“Mortgage rates remained near record lows last week, as incoming data on the job and housing markets were weaker than anticipated,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics, in a press release.
“For the month of June, purchase applications declined almost 15 percent relative to the prior month, and were down more than 30 percent compared to April, the last month in which buyers were eligible for the tax credit.”
The MBA’s weekly survey covers more than half of all retail, residential loan applications, but does not factor out duplicate or rejected apps, which have surely risen since the mortgage crisis got underway.
