Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Mortgage applications rose 5.3% last week after month-long decline

Just a small increase in loan activity.  However, last week both Wells Fargo and BofA laid off loan brokers due to lack of business.  It's still slow out there.
The number of mortgage applications filed in the past week jumped 5.3%, reversing course from a month-long decline in filings, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The sudden upswing in activity is attributed to an increase in applications for government loans, which grew 17.6%, pushing the seasonally adjusted purchase index 10% higher.
For the week ended April 15, the MBA's market composite index – a measure of mortgage loan application volume – grew 5.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis, while the refinance index inched up 2.7% from the previous week.
"Refinance activity increased somewhat, as rates dropped to their lowest level in a month towards the end of the week," said Michael Fratantoni, MBA's vice president of research and economics.
The four-week moving average for the seasonally adjusted market index and the refinance index fell 2.9% and 5.7%, respectively, while the seasonally adjusted purchase index rose 2.5%.
The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.83% from 4.98% a week earlier, while the 15-year FRM decreased to 4.07% from 4.17%.
Refinancing activity during the period declined to 58.5% of total applications, compared to 60.3% a week earlier.
Read it all

No comments:

Post a Comment