About one-third less people applied for a mortgage the week of Thanksgiving, taking a break from home-and-rate-hunting for some quality family time. But a seasonal adjustment pulled application volume back up from the week prior, slightly lower mortgage rates and increased inventory proving hard to pass up.
Mortgage applications increased 2.8% the week ending November 29, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey show. The MBA’s Market Composite Index rose 2.8% given the seasonal adjustment, but fell by 30% on an unadjusted basis from the previous week, when application volume jumped 6.3%.
The Refinance Index decreased 1% from the previous week and was 7% lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 6% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 30% compared with the previous week and was 21% lower than the same week one year ago.
“Mortgage rates fell to their lowest level in over a month last week, with the 30-year fixed rate decreasing to 6.69 percent,” MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist Joel Kan pointed out. “The recent strength in purchase activity continues, supported by lower rates and higher inventory levels, which are giving prospective buyers more options compared to earlier in the year. The purchase index increased for the fourth straight week to its highest level since January 2024. Conventional refinance applications declined despite the lower rates, but FHA and VA refinances rebounded from a week ago.”
Among all mortgage activity, the refinance share fell to 38.7% of total applications from 38.8% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 6% percent of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications remained unchanged from the week prior, at 16%; the VA share increased from 12.4% to 13.6%; the USDA share decreased from 0.5% to 0.4%.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) decreased from 6.86% to 6.69%, with points decreasing to 0.67 from 0.70 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $766,550) decreased from 6.97% to 6.85%, with points decreasing to 0.39 from 0.63 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
