Mortgage application volume fell 1.6 percent during the week ending November 2, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey.
The MBA’s application index fell to 670.6, from 681.7 the previous week, marking the first decline for U.S. home mortgages in five weeks.
The index now sits well below its high of 1,856.7 during the week ending May 30, 2003, at the height of the housing boom.
At the end of last month, the index hit its highest level since March, indicating a scramble to refinance the flurry of resetting loans.
The decline was led by a huge 3.2 percent drop in refinance volume from the prior week, while purchase applications fell a meager 0.05 percent.
Refinances made up 49.1 percent of total mortgage applications during the week, compared with 49.6 percent the prior week.
Application volumes were a whopping 8% higher than in the same week last year, according to the mortgage industry group.
Interest rates changed marginally over the week, by about one basis point on both fixed and adjustable-rate loan products.
And the share of mortgage applications for adjustable-rate mortgages dipped to 14.2%, down from 14.7% the previous week.
As always, it’s important to know that the MBA survey only accounts for roughly 50 percent of all residential retail mortgage originations each week.
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