Mortgage application activity was stagnant for the week ending Nov. 21, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
The Market Composite Index, the MBA’s measure of mortgage loan application volume, inched up by a scant 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index was down by 2%.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 8% while the unadjusted index was up by 2% – the latter was also 20% higher than the same week one year ago. The Refinance Index decreased 6% from the previous week and was 117% higher than the same week one year ago, while the refinance share of mortgage activity dropped to 53.4% of total applications from 55.4% in the previous week.
Among the federal programs, the FHA share of total applications decreased to 18.8% from 19.9% the week prior while the VA share of total applications increased to 15.4% from 15.2% and the USDA share of total applications rose slightly to 0.4% from 0.3%.
“The government purchase index, which includes FHA, VA, and USDA applications, increased 9 percent and had the strongest week since 2023,” said Joel Kan, MBA vice president and deputy chief economist. “Despite slowing home-price growth and lower mortgage rates, affordability remains a challenge in many markets and government loan programs remain appealing to qualified buyers looking to purchase a home. The average purchase loan size decreased to its lowest level in two months.”
Kan added, “Rates have increased by around 10 basis points over the past four weeks and given that many borrowers have been looking to capitalize on rate drops, refinance applications last week declined almost 6% to the slowest weekly pace since September.”
