With mortgage rates still hovering at recent lows, this week saw another increase in mortgage applications, increasing 2.3% from last week’s increase of 2.2%, according to the latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) for the week ending February 7, 2025.
“Mortgage rates moved slightly lower last week, which led to the pace of refinance applications reaching its strongest week since October 2024,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “The average loan size for refinance borrowers increased, as these borrowers tend to be more responsive for a given change in rates.”
According to this week’s report, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 2.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 6% compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 10% from the previous week and was 33% higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 4% compared with the previous week and was 2% higher than the same week one year ago.
“Purchase applications were down from the previous week’s level but were slightly ahead of last year’s pace,” Kan added. “The average loan size for a purchase application increased to its highest level since March 2022 at $456,100, partially driven by fewer FHA purchase applications but more VA loans compared to the previous week.”
Refi update: MBA says the refinance share of mortgage activity this week increased to 40.2% of total applications from 39.0% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.0% of total applications.
To see the full report, click here.
