Mortgage application volume jumped last week as refinance activity bolstered demand, according to the MBA’s weekly survey.
The home loan application index increased 21.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending March 13, possibly helped by the recently announced Making Home Affordable plan.
On an unadjusted basis, apps were up 20.7 percent compared with the previous week and 31.2 percent compared to the same week a year ago.
The refinance index surged 29.6 percent from the previous week, while purchase activity and FHA lending remained rather flat.
The refinance share of mortgage activity climbed to 72.9 percent of total applications, up from 67.9 percent a week earlier as interest rates improved marginally.
The benchmark 30-year fixed fell to 4.89 percent from 4.96 percent, while the 15-year fixed averaged 4.52 percent, down from 4.54 percent a week earlier.
The 30-year slid to its lowest point in survey history, matching a record set in January of this year.
The one year ARM slipped a single basis point to 6.20 percent, keeping adjustable-rate mortgages out of favor, accounting for just two percent of total applications.
The MBA’s survey, conducted since 1990, covers roughly half of all retail residential loan applications.
It does not, however, factor in declined or double apps, which have surely risen as the crisis has taken hold.
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