Mortgage Application Activity Drops, Forbearance Levels Rise

Mortgage application activity took a nosedive for the week ending Aug. 16, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

The Market Composite Index, the MBA’s measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 10.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index dropped by 11%.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 5% from one week earlier while the unadjusted index decreased 7% – the latter was also 8% lower than the same week one year ago. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity decreased to 5.5% of total applications.

The Refinance Index decreased 15% from the previous week, although it was 90% higher than the same week one year ago, and the refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 46.3% of total applications from 48.6% the previous week.

Among the federal programs, the FHA share of total applications increased to 15.6% from 13.5% the week prior while the VA share of total applications decreased to 15.3% from 16.8% and the USDA share of total applications inched up to 0.4% from 0.3%.

Separately, the MBA also reported the total share of loans now in forbearance increased to 0.27% as of July 31, up from 0.23% one month before. The MBA estimated that 135,000 homeowners are in forbearance plans.

The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance increased 1 basis point to 0.12% in July while Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance increased by 12 basis points to 0.56%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities increased 2 basis points to 0.33%.

“July saw an increase of approximately 20,000 more U.S. homeowners in forbearance compared to the previous month,” said Marina Walsh, MBA’s vice president of industry analysis. “Most of this change can be attributed to recent natural disasters, which accounted for 27% of all loans in forbearance last month compared to 16% in June.”