According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 10, mortgage applications increased 7.3% from one week earlier.
The Refinance Index increased 10% from the previous week and was 192% higher than the same week one year ago. The Purchase Index decreased 2% from one week earlier.
“The 30-year fixed mortgage rate decreased last week to the lowest level in MBA’s survey, at 3.45 percent,” says Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting. “The decline in rates – despite Treasury yields rising – is a sign that the mortgage-backed securities market is stabilizing and lenders are successfully working through their lending pipelines.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 76.2% of total applications, from 74.2% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 2.7% of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications decreased to 9.5% from 10.6% the week prior. The VA share of total applications remained unchanged from 14.3% the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged from 0.4% the week prior.
“Compared to the first week of March, the purchase index was down around 35 percent, as the economic downturn and nationwide mitigation practices to slow the spread of COVID-19 have disrupted the spring home-buying season,” Kan notes. “The purchase market is still expected to rebound, as long as the public health measures to reduce the pandemic’s spread are successful and result in a broader recovery.”