Mortgage Application Activity Down for Sixth Straight Week

Mortgage application activity trended downward during the week ending Nov. 1, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). This marked the sixth straight week of application activity decline.

The Market Composite Index, the MBA’s measure of mortgage loan application volume, dropped by 10.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index fell by 12%.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index was down by 5% and the unadjusted index dropped by 7% – although the latter was also 2% higher than the same week one year ago. The Refinance Index fell by 19% and was 48% higher than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 39.9% of total applications from 43.1% the previous week.

Among the federal programs, the FHA share of total applications decreased to 15.5% from 16.4% the week prior while the VA share of total applications decreased to 12.5% from 14.6% and the USDA share of total applications inched up to 0.5% from 0.4%.

Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist, observed, “Applications decreased for the sixth consecutive week, with purchase activity falling to its lowest level since mid-August and refinance activity declining to the lowest level since May. The average loan size on a refinance application dropped below $300,000, as borrowers with larger loans tend to be more sensitive to any given changes in mortgage rates.”