A decline in mortgage rates last week was unable to stem the recent decline in mortgage applications, which fell for the fourth straight week, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said Wednesday.
The Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume — decreased 1.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis from a week earlier, according to data from the MBA’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ended June 2. This week’s results included an adjustment for the Memorial Day holiday.
On an unadjusted basis, the index fell 12% form the previous week.
The Refinance Index decreased 1% from the previous week and remained more than 40% below where it was a year earlier, at 42%, though that was down from 45% for the previous week..
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2% from a week earlier. Unadjusted, the Purchase Index decreased 13% form the previous week and was 27% below where it was at the same point last year.
“The 30-year fixed rate dipped to 6.81%, 10 basis points lower than last week but still the second highest rate of 2023 to date,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “Overall applications were more than 30% lower than a year ago, as borrowers continue to grapple with the higher rate environment.”
Kan noted that purchase activity is constrained by reduced purchasing power from higher rates and the ongoing lack of for-sale inventory. “There continues to be very little rate incentive for refinance borrowers,” he said. “There was less of a decline in government purchase applications last week, which was consistent with a growing share of first-time homebuyers in the market.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 27.3% of total applications from 26.7% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 6.8% of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications increased to 13.2% from 12.7% the previous week. The VA share of total applications increased to 12.5% from 12.1% a week earlier. The USDA share of total applications dipped to 0.4% from 0.5% the previous week.
Mortgage Rates
Note: The points listed include the origination fee and are for 80% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($726,200 or less) decreased to 6.81% from 6.91%, with points decreasing to 0.66 from 0.83. The effective rate decreased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $726,200) slipped to 6.74% from 6.78%, with points decreasing to 0.56 from 0.76. The effective rate decreased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 6.73% from 6.85%, with points decreasing to 1.15 from 1.26. The effective rate decreased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.25% from 6.41%, with points decreasing to 0.62 from 0.84. The effective rate decreased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 5.93% from 5.39%, with points increasing to 0.96 from 0.46. The effective rate increased from last week.
The survey covers over 75% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks, and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.
