Amid Middle East and continuing economic uncertainty and mortgage rates edging higher, mortgage applications still saw an increase this week, mostly thanks to refinances.
According to the latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) for the week ending June 20, the Market Composite Index (a measure of mortgage loan application volume) increased 1.1% from the previous week’s 2.6% decrease. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 10% compared with the previous week. This week’s results include an adjustment for the Juneteenth holiday.
“The combination of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, current economic conditions, and last week’s FOMC meeting resulted in slightly lower Treasury rates,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “However, mortgage rates still edged higher but remained in the same narrow range, with the 30-year fixed rate increasing to 6.88% last week.”
MBA also reported that the Refinance Index increased 3% from the previous week and was 29% higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 0.4% from one week earlier and the unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 11% compared with the previous week and was 12% higher than the same week one year ago, MBA reported.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 38.4% of total applications from 37.3% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 6.9% of total applications.
“Applications increased slightly overall driven by FHA refinances, but conventional applications saw declines over the week,” Kan added. “The average loan size for purchase applications declined to $436,300, the lowest level since January 2025, driven by decreasing conventional purchase loan sizes.”
For this week’s full report, click here.
