Mortgage applications decreased by 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending Oct. 25, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). On an unadjusted basis, applications were down 1%.
This is the fourth time in five weeks that mortgage applications were essentially flat week over week, said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist, in a statement. He pointed to bond market volatility ahead of the presidential election and the Federal Reserve meeting planned for next week where another rate cut is expected to be discussed.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) increased to 6.73% from 6.52% last week. Points increased to 0.69 from 0.64 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio loans.
“After a brief burst of activity in September when rates were almost 60 basis points lower, overall applications have declined 27%, driven by a pullback in refinances,” Kan said. “Government refinances accounted for a large part of the decrease, dropping 12% over last week.”
Year-over-year numbers, however, were much more positive. Refinance Index decreased 6% from the previous week and was 84% higher than the same week one year ago.
The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 5% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 4% compared with the previous week and was 10% higher than the same week one year ago.
