Mortgage Applications Take an Upward Turn

Oct 18, 2017

More people were in pursuit of home loans last week, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest survey of mortgage applications showed an increase in purchase and refinance activity.

For the week ending Oct. 13, the Market Composite Index increased 3.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. However, on an unadjusted basis, the index was down by seven percent compared with the previous week.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index saw a four percent rise from the previous week, but the unadjusted index dropped by six percent—although it was nine percent higher than the same week one year ago. The Refinance Index took a three percent uptick from the previous week, but the refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 48.6 percent of total applications from 49 percent in the previous week.

Among the federal programs, the FHA share of total applications increased to 10.4 percent from 10.3 percent the week prior, while the VA share of total applications decreased to 10.5 percent from 10.6 percent and the USDA share of total applications increased to 0.8 percent from 0.7 percent.

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Phil Hall

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Oct 18, 2017

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