Mortgage applications increased 0.3% from the previous week, according to the latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) for the week ending Sept. 10, 2021. This week’s results include an adjustment for the Labor Day holiday.
Key details:
– Market Composite Index increased 0.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week.
– Unadjusted, the index decreased 10% compared with the previous week.
– The Refinance Index decreased 3% from the previous week—3% lower than the same week last year.
– The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 8% from the previous week.
The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 5% compared with the previous week—12% lower YoY.
The takeaway:
“Purchase applications—after adjusting for the impact of Labor Day—increased over 7% last week to their highest level since April 2021. Compared to the same week last September, which was right in the middle of a significant upswing in home purchases, applications were down 11%—the smallest year-over-year decline in 14 weeks,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of Economic and Industry Forecasting, in a statement. “Both conventional and government purchase applications increased, and the average loan size for a purchase application rose to $396,800. The very competitive purchase market continues to put upward pressure on sales prices.”
Added Kan, “While the 30-year fixed rate was unchanged at just over 3%, it was not enough to drive more refinance activity. Refinance applications slipped to their slowest pace since early July, and the refinance share of applications fell to 65%, which was also the lowest since July.”
