According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 22, mortgage applications decreased 4.1 percent from one week earlier.
The Refinance Index decreased 5 percent from the previous week but was 83 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 3 percent compared with the previous week and was 16 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
The MBA says last week, the 30-year fixed rate was at its highest point since November 2020, at 2.95 percent.
“In a sign that borrowers are increasingly more sensitive to higher rates, large declines in government purchase applications and refinance applications pulled overall activity lower,” explains Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting. “The refinance index has now declined for two straight weeks but is still 83 percent higher than last year.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 70.7 percent of total applications, from 72.3 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 2.2 percent of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications increased to 9.4 percent from 9.3 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications decreased to 12.4 percent from 13.8 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications increased to 0.5 percent from 0.4 percent the week prior.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($510,400 or less) increased to 2.95 percent from 2.92 percent, with points decreasing to 0.32 from 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.
Meanwhile. the average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 2.43 percent from 2.48 percent, with points decreasing to 0.32 from 0.33 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
