Mortgage Apps Down 0.6 Percent

The Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Application Survey reported a 0.6% decrease in applications on an adjusted basis for the week ending Oct. 16, 2020. On an unadjusted basis, applications decreased by 1%.

The report also revealed that the Refinance Index increased by 0.2% from the previous week but was 74% higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2% compared to the previous week.

"Mortgage rates increased last week, with the 30-year fixed-rate climbing 2 basis points to 3.02 percent - the highest since late September. Despite the uptick in rates, refinance activity held steady, with FHA refinance applications posting a 17.6 percent increase, helping to offset declines in the other loan types," said Joel Kan, MBA's associate vice president of Economic and Industry Forecasting. "Homebuyer demand remains strong this fall, but purchase applications did decrease 2 percent, with both conventional and government purchase activity taking a step back. Given the ongoing housing market recovery and low rate environment, both purchase and refinance applications remained robust compared to a year ago, rising 26 percent and 74 percent, respectively."

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 66.1% from 65.6% the previous week, the adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity decreased to 1.9% of total applications, the FHA share increased to 11.8% from 10.7%, the VA share decreased to 12.6% from 13.4% and the USDA share of total applications decreased to 0.5% from 0.6% the previous week.