Mortgage Applications Down During Thanksgiving Week

Potential homeowners were paying more attention to the Thanksgiving holiday than to home loans, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Nov. 24.

 

The Market Composite Index fell by 3.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index plummeted by 34 percent compared with the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index was up by two percent from one week earlier to its highest level since September. But the unadjusted Purchase Index crashed by 32 percent compared with the previous week, although it was six percent higher than the same week one year ago. The Refinance Index too an eight percent drop from the previous week to its lowest level since January, while the refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 48.7 percent of total applications from 49.9 percent the previous week.

 

All three of the major federal home loan programs saw upward movement. The FHA share of applications increased to 10.8 percent from 10.6 percent the week prior, while the VA share of total applications increased to 11 percent from 10.7 percent the week prior and the USDA share of total applications increased to 0.8 percent from 0.7 percent.

 

Separately, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported that interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages decreased from September to October, according to several of its indices. The average interest rate on all mortgage loans was 3.97 percent, down two basis points from 3.99 in September, while the average interest rate on conventional, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages of $424,100 or less was 4.11 percent, down three basis points from 4.14 in September.

 

The effective interest rate on all mortgage loans was 4.01 percent in October, down seven basis points from 4.08 in September, and the effective interest rate accounts for the addition of initial fees and charges over the life of the mortgage.

 

The average loan amount for all loans was $307,500 in October, up $8,000 from $299,500 in September.

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