Mortgage applications increased 0.2% for the week ending Oct. 8, 2021. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week.
Unadjusted, the Index increased 0.4% compared to the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 1% from the previous week—16% lower YoY. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2% from the previous week. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 2% compared with the previous week—10% lower than the same week one year ago.
Additional details:
– The refi share of mortgage activity decreased to 63.9% of total applications.
– The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 3.4% of total applications.
– The FHA share of total applications decreased to 10.2%.
– The VA share of total applications decreased to 10.2%.
– The USDA share of total applications decreased to 0.4%.
The takeaway:
“Mortgage rates reached their highest level since June 2021, but application activity changed little this week. An increase in home purchase applications offset a slight decline in refinances,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of Economic and Industry Forecasting, in a statement. “The increase in purchase applications was welcome news, but was primarily driven by a 2% gain in conventional purchase applications, which kept the average loan size elevated.”
“The 30-year fixed rate reached 3.18% last week and has risen 15 basis points over the past month, resulting in an 11% drop in refinance applications during this time,” added Kan. “Government refinance applications fell over 3% last week, driven by a decline in FHA refinances and an eight-basis-point increase in the average FHA mortgage rate. We continue to expect weakening refinance activity as rates move higher and borrowers see less of a rate incentive.”
