The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 5.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending Nov. 5. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 5.4% compared with the previous week.
The Refinance Index increased 6% from the previous week, and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 5.5% from one week earlier. This is the third consecutive weekly increase in purchase applications, the MBA notes.
‘The increases in purchase applications we have seen over the past couple of weeks align with the better-than-expected news from October's employment report and other data indicating some improvement in the economy's growth prospects,’ says Michael Fratantoni, the MBA's vice president of research and economics. ‘Refinance applications increased as rates continued to hover near record lows."
The conventional purchase index increased 5.4% to its highest level since May, on a seasonally adjusted basis. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the conventional purchase index was at the highest level observed since early October.
SOURCE: Mortgage Bankers Association