Mortgage application volume fell 12.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending February 27, the MBA reported today.
On an unadjusted basis, the home loan app index decreased two percent from the previous week and was off 6.7 percent compared with the same week a year ago.
The decline was led by a 15.3 percent drop in refinance activity, along with smaller declines in purchases and FHA lending.
That pushed the refinance share of mortgage activity to 66.9 percent of total applications, down from 69.7 percent a week earlier.
Meanwhile, interest rates inched up, with the hot 30-year fixed climbing to 5.14 percent from 5.07 percent and the 15-year rising two basis points to 4.73 percent.
The one-year ARM remained unchanged at an unfavorable 6.13 percent, but the adjustable-rate mortgage share of apps still rose to 2.3 percent of the total from 1.9 percent a week before.
The MBA’s weekly survey, around since 1990, covers roughly half of all retail residential home loan applications, but doesn’t filter out declined or double apps.
It’s important to note that the approval rate has likely fallen as house values have dropped and underwriting guidelines have become more stringent.
And the retail share of mortgage applications has also risen substantially over the past couple years, so the numbers can be a bit deceiving.
(photo: phoosh)
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