Dull Activity in Latest Mortgage Applications Data

March went out with a whimper instead of bang, at least in terms of home loan application activity.

 

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 31, the Market Composite Index dropped by 1.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis and decreased by one percent on an unadjusted compared with the previous week. Both the seasonally adjusted and the unadjusted Purchase Index was up by one percent from one week earlier, with the latter coming in eight percent higher than the same week one year ago. But the Refinance Index fell by four percent from the previous week while the refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 42.6 percent of total applications from 44 percent the previous week.

 

Among the federal programs, the FHA share of total applications increased to 11.1 percent from 10.8 percent the week prior while the VA share of total applications increased to 11.1 percent from 11 percent and the USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at one percent.