Apps were impacted by higher rates and the July 4th holiday
There was a 1.1% week-over-week decrease in mortgage applications in the week ending July 12, 2019 according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Its Market Composite Index declined on a seasonally adjusted basis but was up 24% unadjusted.
The Refinance Index increased 2% from the previous week and was 87% percent higher year-over-year. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index was down 4% week-over-week but unadjusted it increased 21% and was 7% higher than the same week one year ago.
"Mortgage rates increased across the board, with the 30-year fixed rate mortgage rising to its highest level in a month to 4.12%, which is still below this year's average of 4.45%," said Joel Kan, MBA's Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. "Coming out of the July 4th holiday, applications were lower overall, with purchase activity slipping almost 4%. Refinance applications increased, with activity reaching its highest level in a month, driven mainly by FHA applications. Historically, government refinance activity lags slightly in response to rate changes."
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 50% of total applications from 48.7% the previous week and the ARM share slipped to 4.9%.
The FHA share of total applications increased to 10.6% from 10.1% the week prior; the VA share decreased to 12.9% from 13.2%; and the USDA share decreased to 0.6% from 0.7%.
Average contract rates
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($484,350 or less) increased to 4.12% from 4.04%, with points increasing to 0.38 from 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent 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 $484,350) increased to 4.07% from 4.03%, with points decreasing to 0.21 from 0.27 (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 4.01% from 3.97%, with points decreasing to 0.28 from 0.30 (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 3.48% from 3.42%, with points remaining unchanged at 0.32 (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 3.58% from 3.56%, with points decreasing to 0.27 from 0.28 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
