Mortgage demand increased for a second straight week as mortgage rates headed back toward record lows, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today.
Home loan application volume was up 9.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending January 15, but off a startling 52.3 percent (unadjusted) compared with the same week a year ago.
Interestingly, the MBA hadn’t been posting the year-over-year numbers up until this week, so there must be something on the agenda.
The refinance index jumped 10.7 percent compared with the previous week and the seasonally adjusted purchase index saw a 4.4 percent gain.
The unadjusted purchase Index was up 9.8 compared with the previous week, but 19.1 percent lower than the same week one year ago.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased slightly from 71.5 percent to 71.7 percent of total applications as the mortgage rate picture improved.
The 30-year fixed averaged 5.00 percent even, down from 5.13 percent, while the 15-year fixed slipped to 4.33 percent from 4.45 percent.
The one-year adjustable-rate mortgage also improved, falling to 6.72 percent from 6.83 percent.
The ARM-share of activity increased slightly to 4.1 percent from 4.0 percent of total applications.
The MBA’s weekly survey covers more than half of retail, residential home loan applications, but does not factor out multiple or declined apps, which have surely risen in recent years.
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