Mortgage application volume increased for a third week straight during the week ended Jan. 22, which included the Martin Luther King holiday, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.
Total volume increased 8.8% on an adjusted basis compared with the previous week. On an unadjusted basis, application volume increased 0.3%.
Applications for refinances increased 11%, while applications for purchases increased 5%.
On an unadjusted basis, applications for purchases increased 0.4% compared with the previous week and were 22% higher compared with the same week one year ago.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 59.0% of total applications – down slightly from 59.1% the previous week.
The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) with conforming loan balance ($417,000 or less) was 4.02%, down from 4.06% the previous week.
The average rate for a 30-year FRM with jumbo loan balance (greater than $417,000) was 3.89%, down from 3.93%.
The average rate for a 30-year FRM backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was 3.83%, down from 3.86%.
The average rate for a 15-year FRM was 3.28%, down from 3.29%.
The average rate for a 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 3.09%, down from 3.20%.
The ARM share of activity increased to 6.9% of total applications.
Looking at volume by loan type, the share of applications backed by the FHA was 12.7%, down from 13.7% the week prior. The share of applications for Veterans Affairs loans was 11.1%, up from 10.8%, and the share of U.S. Department of Agriculture loans was 0.7%, unchanged compared with the previous week.