Mortgage Applications Down 7.4 Percent

Last week’s Fourth of July holiday did little to boost enthusiasm in the housing market, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 7.

 

The Market Composite Index fell by decreased 7.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier, while the unadjusted index plummeted by 26 percent. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index saw a three percent slip one week earlier, but the unadjusted experienced a 22 percent crash compared with the previous week—although it was still three percent higher than the same week one year ago. The Refinance Index decreased 13 percent from the previous week to the lowest level since January, while the refinance share of mortgage activity shrank to 42.1 percent of total applications from 44.9 percent the previous week.

 

Among the federal programs, the FHA share of total applications increased to 10.4 percent from 10.2 percent the week prior and the VA share of total applications increased to 11.5 percent from 10.3 percent, but the USDA share of total applications decreased to 0.7 percent from last week’s 0.8 percent.

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