Mortgage application volume increased 3% during the week ended June 23, as the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage increased slightly to 6.75%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey.
Applications for refinances increased 3% compared with the previous week but were down 32% compared with a year ago.
Applications for purchases also increased 3% compared with the previous week but were down 21% compared with a year earlier.
“Mortgage rate changes varied across loan types last week, with the 30-year fixed rate increasing slightly to 6.75 percent,” says Joel Kan, vice president and deputy chief economist for the MBA in a statement. “The spread between the jumbo and conforming rates widened to 16 basis points, the third week in a row that the jumbo rate was higher than the conforming rate.
“To put this into perspective, from May 2022 to May 2023, the jumbo rate averaged around 30 basis points less than the conforming rate,” Kan says.
“Purchase applications increased for the third consecutive week to the highest level of activity since early May but remained more than 20 percent lower than year ago levels,” he adds. “New home sales have been driving purchase activity in recent months as buyers look for options beyond the existing-home market. Existing-home sales continued to be held back by a lack of for-sale inventory as many potential sellers are holding on to their lower-rate mortgages.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 27.2% of total applications, up from 26.9% the previous week.
The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 6.1% of total applications.
Photo: Scott Graham