Mortgage Application Levels Blossom

Phil Hall

Mar 28, 2018

The coming of spring seems to have warmed up the homebuying process, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 23.

The Market Composite Index rose by 4.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier while the unadjusted index was up by an even five percent. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased three percent from one week earlier and the unadjusted index took a four percent rise while score an eight percent advantage from the same week one year ago. The Refinance Index increased seven percent from the previous week and the refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 39.4 percent of total applications from 38.5 percent the previous week.

Among the federal program, the FHA share of total applications decreased to 9.9 percent from 10.3 percent the week prior and the VA share of total applications decreased to 10.3 percent from 10.7 while the USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.8 percent.

Link copied

Published

Mar 28, 2018

Analysis and Data

Resilient Labor Market Adds 339K Jobs In May

Despite 15% increase in new jobs from April, unemployment rate rises to 3.7%.

The U.S. labor market continues to defy efforts to slow the economy, adding a surprising 339,000 jobs in May, nearly double the expectations of economists, the government said Friday. Despite the biggest increase in employment since January, the unemployment rate rose by 3 ...

Regulation and Compliance

6 Federal Agencies Seek Comment On Proposed Rule For AVMs

The rule is intended to ensure the credibility and integrity of Automated Valuation Models.

Six federal regulatory agencies on Thursday requested public comment on a proposed rule designed to ensure the credibility and integrity of models used in automated real estate valuations.  The proposed rule would implement quality control standards for automated valua...