Mortgage applications increased 0.8% from a week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending June 21, 2024. The results include an adjustment for the Juneteenth holiday.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 0.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 10% compared with the previous week.
The Refinance Index was essentially unchanged from the previous week and was 26% higher than the same week one year ago.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased by 1% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 10% compared with the previous week and was 13% lower than the same week one year ago.
“Mortgage rates were mostly lower last week, with the 30-year fixed rate declining slightly to 6.93%, the lowest level in more than three months,” said MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist, Joel Kan. “Lower rates, however, were still not enough to entice refinance borrowers back, as most continue to hold mortgages with considerably lower rates.”
Added Kan, “Purchase applications did see a small increase after adjusting for the Juneteenth holiday. Government purchase loans, primarily FHA and VA, saw gains of more than 2% over the previous week, as homebuyers in those segments sought to take advantage of the recent rate relief.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 35.1% of total applications from 35.2% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.1 % of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications moved upward to 13.1% from 12.7% the week prior. The VA share of total applications, however, decreased to 13.8% from 14.8% the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.4%.
The MBA reported that the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) decreased marginally to 6.93% from 6.94%, with points unchanged at 0.61 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
More information on average contract interest rate activity can be found here.
