Refinance activity outpaced purchase loans in the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) covering the week ending April 5.
The Market Composite Index, the MBA’s measure of mortgage loan application volume, inched up by a scant 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index was up by a mere 0.2%.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index dropped by 5% from one week earlier and the unadjusted index decreased by 4% — the latter was also 23% lower than the same week one year ago.
The Refinance Index enjoyed a 10% hike from the previous week and was 4% higher than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 33.3% of total applications from 30.3% the previous week.
Among the federal programs, the FHA share of total applications increased to 12.1% from 11.7% the week prior while the VA share of total applications increased to 14.0% from 12.1% and the USDA share of total applications dipped to 0.4% percent from 0.5%.
Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist, observed, “Purchase applications were down almost 5% to the lowest level since the end of February, but refinance applications were up 10% driven particularly by VA refinance applications.”
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