After four straight weeks of declines, mortgage applications increased 7.4% from one week earlier, according to the latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA), for the week ending March 3, 2023.
This week’s numbers:
- The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 7.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
- On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 9% compared with the previous week.
- The Refinance Index increased 9% from the previous week and was 76% lower than the same week one year ago.
- The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 7% from one week earlier.
- The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 9% compared with the previous week and was 42% lower than the same week one year ago.
- The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 28.9% of total applications from 28.7% the previous week.
- The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 8.6% of total applications.
- The FHA share of total applications increased to 12.8% from 12.0% the week prior.
- The VA share of total applications increased to 12.0% from 11.6% the week prior.
- The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.5% from the week prior.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($726,200 or less) increased to 6.79% from 6.71%, with points increasing to 0.80 from 0.77 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. 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 6.49% from 6.44%, with points increasing to 0.59 from 0.49 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 6.56% from 6.45%, with points increasing to 1.21 from 1.19 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.25% from 6.13%, with points increasing to 1.01 from 0.93 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 5.75% from 5.73%, with points increasing to 0.95 from 0.86 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
MBA’s take:
“Mortgage rates continued to increase last week. The 30-year fixed rate rose to 6.79% – the highest level since November 2022 and 270 basis points higher than a year ago,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “Even with higher rates, there was an uptick in applications last week, but this was in comparison to two weeks of declines to very low levels, including a holiday week. Comparing the application indices from a year ago, purchase applications were still down 42%, and refinance activity was down 76%. Many borrowers are waiting on the sidelines for rates to come back down.”
