Mortgage Applications Take a Downturn

Apr 19, 2017

Home lending activity was on the decline again for the week ending April 17, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.

The Market Composite Index dropped by 1.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis and by two percent on an unadjusted basis. Both the seasonally adjusted and unadjusted Purchase Index decreased by three percent from one week earlier, while the latter was one percent lower than the same week one year ago. However, the Refinance Index recorded a scant 0.2 percent increase from the previous week while the refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 42.4 percent of total applications from 41.6 percent the previous week.

Among the federal programs, the FHA share of total applications increased to 11 percent from 10.7 percent the week prior while the VA share of total applications decreased to 11.1 percent from 11.3 percent and the USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at one percent.

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Phil Hall

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Apr 19, 2017

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