It may not sound like a lot, but it’s the largest increase in about three months.
Mortgage application volume finally chalked a clear gain, climbing 7.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending August 29, according to the latest MBA survey.
On an unadjusted basis, the home loan application index was up 5.8 percent compared to a week earlier, but still down 27 percent from a year ago.
The gain was led by a surge in FHA loan apps, which increased a whopping 19.9 percent, along with a 10.5 percent jump in purchase applications.
That pushed the refinance share of mortgage activity to 34 percent of total applications, down from 35.2 percent a week earlier.
Interest rates remained mostly unchanged, with the 30-year averaging 6.39 percent, down from 6.44 percent, while the 15-year climbed two basis points to 5.96 percent.
The one-year adjustable-rate mortgage fell four basis points to 7.11 percent, but still wasn’t enough to keep the ARM share of apps from slipping to 6.6 percent from 7.9 percent.
The weekly MBA survey covers about half of all residential retail home loan applications, but doesn’t take into account declined and multiple applications.
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