Mortgage application volume bounced off a near eight-year low, rising a modest 2.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending August 1, the MBA said today.
On an unadjusted basis, the home loan application index increased 2.4 percent compared to a week prior, but remained 33.7 percent lower than the same week a year earlier.
The minor bump in application volume could be attributed to a 4.4 percent increase in refinance applications and a 7.2 percent jump in FHA loan apps.
The refinance share of mortgage activity inched up to 35.9 percent of total applications, up from 35.2 percent as mortgage rates showed little sign of clear direction.
The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slipped five basis points to 6.41 percent, while the average 15-year fixed increased four basis points to 6.02 percent.
The one-year adjustable-rate mortgage displayed more improvement, sliding eight basis points to 7.17 percent, but that wasn’t enough to sway ARM applications higher.
The ARM share of mortgage activity slipped to just 6.9 percent during the week, down from 7.3 percent a week earlier.
The MBA survey, conducted since 1990, covers about half of all retail residential home loan applications, but should be taken with a grain of salt because it includes double-apps and rejected applications.
(photo: timsamoff)
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