The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 23 indicated a 3 percent increase from the week before on a seasonally adjusted basis, including an adjustment for the Juneteenth holiday.
On an unadjusted basis, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 8 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 3 percent from the previous week and was 32 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 3 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 8 percent compared with the previous week and was 21 percent lower than the same week one year ago.
“Mortgage rate changes varied across loan types last week, with the 30-year fixed rate increasing slightly to 6.75 percent,” MBA Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist Joel Kan said. “The spread between the jumbo and conforming rates widened to 16 basis points, the third week in a row that the jumbo rate was higher than the conforming rate. To put this into perspective, from May 2022 to May 2023, the jumbo rate averaged around 30 basis points less than the conforming rate.
“Purchase applications increased for the third consecutive week to the highest level of activity since early May but remained more than 20 percent lower than year ago levels. New home sales have been driving purchase activity in recent months as buyers look for options beyond the existing-home market. Existing-home sales continued to be held back by a lack of for-sale inventory as many potential sellers are holding on to their lower-rate mortgages.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 27.2 percent of total applications from 26.9 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 6.1 percent of total applications.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($726,200 or less) increased slightly to 6.75 percent from 6.73 percent, with points remaining at 0.64 (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 $726,200) increased to 6.91 percent from 6.80 percent, with points increasing to 0.69 from 0.49 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 6.63 percent from 6.74 percent, with points increasing to 1.08 from 1.03 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.23 percent from 6.26 percent, with points decreasing to 0.69 from 0.71 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.