Refis Prop Up Mortgage Market Transactions

Refinance activity helped propel the home loan market last week, according to the latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

For the week ending April 1, the Market Composite Index increased 2.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis and three percent on an unadjusted basis from the previous week. But that ascension was not fueled by the purchase market. Instead, both the seasonally adjusted and the unadjusted Purchase Index decreased two percent from one week earlier. As for the government loan market, all three markets—FHA, VA and USDA—experienced downturns in their respective shares of total applications.

However, the Refinance Index increased seven percent from the previous week and the refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 54.5 percent of total applications from 52.4 percent the previous week.