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A Blah Week for Mortgage Applications

Aug 23, 2017
Mortgage applications for new home purchases took a 7.5 percent year-over-year tumble in September

The home loan market had a case of the late summer blues, according to Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Aug. 18.
 
The Market Composite Index slipped by 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier, while the unadjusted index fell by two percent. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index dipped by two percent from one week earlier, while the unadjusted Purchase Index was down by three percent—although it was nine percent higher than the same week one year ago.
 
The Refinance Index inched up by 0.3 percent from the previous week and the refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 48.7 percent of total applications from 47.8 percent the previous week.
 
Among the federal programs, the FHA share of total applications decreased to 10.1 percent from 10.2 percent the week prior while the VA share of total applications decreased to 10.2 percent from 10.5 percent and the USDA share of total applications remained unchanged from the week prior at 0.8 percent.

 
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