Mortgage application volume increased 15.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending May 2 after hitting its 2008 low one week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today.
On an unadjusted basis, the application index was up 15.9 percent compared with the previous week but still remained 4.4 percent lower than the same week a year earlier.
The increase in application volume was led by a 19.3 percent spike in refinance applications, a 13.2 percent surge in FHA apps, and a 12.1 percent jump in purchase activity.
The refinance share of activity increased to 47.1 percent of total applications from 45.7 percent a week earlier, but still stands far below recent highs of around 70 percent.
Interest Rates Improve
Rates saw mild improvement across the board, with the traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 5.91 percent last week, down from 6.01 percent a week earlier.
The average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage dipped to 5.49 percent from 5.53 percent, and the average one-year adjustable-rate mortgage fell to 6.77 percent from 6.86 percent.
Lender fees also improved on all the aforementioned products, with points (including origination fee) averaging 1.12 for 30-year loans, down from 1.26 a week earlier.
Points decreased to 1.07 from 1.24 on 15-year loans, and fell to 1.35 from 1.40 on one-year ARMs.
(photo: mogun23)
