The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released the results of its weekly survey, indicating mortgage applications decreased by 1.6% for the week ending March 15.
Mortgage loan application volume, measured on the Market Composite Index, decreased 1% on an unadjusted basis.
The Refinance Index decreased 3% from the previous week and was 3% lower than the same week one year ago. Both the seasonally adjusted and unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 1% from one week earlier and the unadjusted index was 14% lower than the same week one year ago.
“Mortgage rates increased last week as incoming data showed inflation was still hotter than expected, which stoked concerns about the timing and extent to which the Fed might be able to reduce the fed funds rates this year,” MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist Joel Kan said. “After three weeks of declines, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased to 6.97%. Mortgage applications continued to show sensitivity to rate movements, and both purchase and refinance activity decreased over the week. With housing supply low and prices high, the average loan size for purchase applications increased to the highest level since May 2022.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity dropped slightly to 31.2% of total applications from last week's 31.6%. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 7.2% of total applications. The FHA share of total applications increased to 12.1% from 12% the week prior. The VA share of total applications decreased marginally to 12.1% from 12.2% the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged from 0.5% the week prior.
Other takeaways:
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) increased to 6.97% from 6.84%, with points decreasing to 0.64 from 0.65 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $766,550) increased to 7.14% from 7.04%, with points increasing to 0.54 from 0.38 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 6.89% from 6.77%, with points increasing to 1.04 from 0.95 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.49% from 6.37%, with points decreasing to 0.70 from 0.77 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 6.33% from 6.38%, with points increasing to 0.55 from 0.52 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
