Mortgage Application Activity Drops by 1.3%

Mortgage application volume was down for the week ending Sept. 27, according to new data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

The Market Composite Index, the MBA’s measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 1.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index dipped by 1%.

Both the seasonally adjusted and unadjusted Purchase Index were up by 1% from one week earlier, while the latter was 9% higher than the same week one year ago. The Refinance Index decreased 3% from the previous week and was 186% higher than the same week one year ago; the refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 54.9% of total applications from 55.7% the previous week.

Among the federal programs, the FHA share of total applications increased to 16.6% from 15% the week prior while and the USDA share of total applications inched up to 0.4% from 0.3%.

Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist, observed, “The news for the week was that more homebuyers appear to be entering the market. Purchase application activity was up for the week and increased more than 9% compared to last year at this time. Inventories of both new and existing homes have been increasing over the course of 2024, meaning that potential buyers have properties to look at and now have somewhat lower mortgage rates leading to better affordability.”