Mortgage application volume once again moved higher last week, driven unexpectedly by purchases, according to the MBA.
The home loan app index was up two percent (2.4 percent adjusted) on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending May 1 compared with the previous week and 43.7 percent from a year ago.
Purchase applications increased five percent, while the ever-popular FHA increased 4.4 percent and refinances climbed 1.2 percent.
That pushed the refinance share of mortgage activity to 74.4 percent of total applications from 75.3 percent the previous week, still quite dominant.
Meanwhile, interest rates climbed higher, with the 30-year fixed averaging 4.79 percent, up from 4.62 percent, and the 15-year fixed rising 12 basis points to 4.57 percent.
The one-year adjustable-rate mortgage also increased to 6.36 percent from 6.23 percent, and the ARM-share of total applications remained unchanged at a meager 2.1 percent.
The MBA’s weekly survey covers roughly half of all retail residential loan applications, but does not filter out duplicate or declined applications, which have surely increased in recent months.
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