Mortgage applications increased last week for the third straight week, even with an adjustment for the Juneteenth holiday, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said Wednesday.
According to data from the MBA’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ended June 23, the Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume — increased 3% on a seasonally adjusted basis from a week earlier. Unadjusted, the index decreased 8% from the previous week.
The Refinance Index also increased 3% from the previous week, but was 32% lower than the same week last year.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 3% from a week earlier as well. Unadjusted, it decreased 8% from the previous week and was 21% lower than the same week last year.
“Mortgage rate changes varied across loan types last week, with the 30-year fixed rate increasing slightly to 6.75%,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “The spread between the jumbo and conforming rates widened to 16 basis points, the third week in a row that the jumbo rate was higher than the conforming rate.”
To put the spread in perspective, Kan noted that from May 2022 to May 2023, the jumbo rate averaged around 30 basis points less than the conforming rate.
“Purchase applications increased for the third consecutive week to the highest level of activity since early May, but remained more than 20% lower than year ago levels,” he said. “New home sales have been driving purchase activity in recent months as buyers look for options beyond the existing-home market. Existing-home sales continued to be held back by a lack of for-sale inventory as many potential sellers are holding on to their lower-rate mortgages.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 27.2% of total applications from 26.9% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 6.1% of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications decreased to 12.9% from 13.3% a week earlier. The VA share of total applications increased to 12.2% from 11.9% a week earlier, while the USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.4%.
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) ticked up to 6.75% from 6.73%, with points remaining at 0.64. The effective rate increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $726,200) increased to 6.91% from 6.8%, with points increasing to 0.69 from 0.49. The effective rate increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 6.63% from 6.74%, with points increasing to 1.08 from 1.03. The effective rate decreased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.23% from 6.26%, with points decreasing to 0.69 from 0.71. The effective rate decreased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 6.28% from 6.09%, with points decreasing to 1.02 from 1.40. 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.
