Mortgage applications increased 3.0% from last week’s slight increase of 0.5%, according to the latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) for the week ending June 23, 2023. This week’s results include an adjustment for the Juneteenth holiday.
This week’s numbers:
- The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 3.0% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
- On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 8% compared with the previous week.
- The Refinance Index increased 3% from the previous week and was 32% lower than the same week one year ago.
- The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 3% from one week earlier.
- The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 8% compared with the previous week and was 21% lower than the same week one year ago.
- 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% the week prior.
- The VA share of total applications increased to 12.2% from 11.9% the week prior.
- The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.4% 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 6.75% from 6.73%, with points remaining at 0.64 (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 6.91% from 6.80%, with points increasing to 0.69 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 decreased to 6.63% from 6.74%, with points increasing to 1.08 from 1.03 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. 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 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. 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 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
MBA’s take:
“Mortgage rate changes varied across loan types last week, with the 30-year fixed rate increasing slightly to 6.75%. 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 this into perspective, from May 2022 to May 2023, the jumbo rate averaged around 30 basis points less than the conforming rate,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “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. 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.”
