Blame it on the rain snow…
Home loan application volume slipped 8.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ending February 19, according to the latest weekly survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Refinance applications were off 8.9 percent compared with the previous week, while purchase activity slipped 7.3 percent to its lowest point since May 1997 (so much for the homebuyer tax credit).
The unadjusted purchase index fell 3.6 percent compared to one week earlier, and was off 13.4 percent from a year ago.
“As many East Coast markets were digging out from the blizzard last week, purchase applications fell, another indication that housing demand remains relatively weak,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics, said in the release.
“With home prices continuing to drift amid an abundant inventory of homes on the market, potential homebuyers do not see any urgency to lock in purchases.”
Still, purchases grabbed a larger share of total mortgage activity, with the refinance share slipping to 68.1 percent of applications from 69.3 percent a week earlier.
Meanwhile, interest rates moved higher, with the 30-year fixed climbing to 5.03 percent from 4.94 percent, and the 15-year fixed rising to 4.35 percent from 4.33 percent.
The one-year adjustable-rate mortgage also increased, averaging 6.80 percent during the week, up from 6.67 percent.
But the ARM-share of mortgage activity still managed to increase from 4.4 percent to 4.7 percent of total applications.
The MBA’s weekly survey covers more than half of all retail, residential loan applications, but does not factor out duplicate or declined apps, which have surely risen in recent years.
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