Mortgage application volume decreased 3.2% on an adjusted basis during the week ended Jan. 27, with applications for refinances decreasing 1% and applications for purchases decreasing 6% compared with one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.
The previous week’s results included an adjustment for the Martin Luther King Day holiday.
On an unadjusted basis, total volume increased 11% compared with the previous week. Applications for purchases increased 12% on an unadjusted basis compared with the previous week and increased 2% compared with the same week one year earlier.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 49.4% of total applications – down from 50.0% the previous week.
Helping drive down applications was that mortgage interest rates increased for a second week. The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) was 4.39%, up from 4.35% to reach the highest level since December.
The average rate for a 30-year jumbo FRM was 4.32%, up from 4.28%.
The average rate for a 30-year FRM backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was 4.17%, down from 4.19%.
The average rate for a 15-year FRM was 3.61%, up from 3.57%.
The average rate for a 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 3.33%, down from 3.41%.
The ARM share of activity increased to 6.4% of total applications.
All rates are based on closings. The survey covers over 75% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.
Looking at the government loans, mortgages backed by the FHA represented about 12.1% of all applications – down from 13.6% the week prior. The Veterans Affairs share of total applications was 12.4%, up from 12.2% the week prior. The U.S. Department of Agriculture share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.9%.
