Mortgage Application Activity is Dull, Forbearance Levels Drop

Mortgage application activity remained flat for the week ending Jan. 17, according to new data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

The Market Composite Index, the MBA’s measure of mortgage loan application volume, inched up by a scant 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index was up by 3%.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index recorded a 1% uptick from one week earlier while the unadjusted index rose by 7% compared with the previous week – the latter was 2% higher than the same week one year ago. But the Refinance Index decreased 3% from the previous week – although it was also 42% higher than the same week one year ago – while the refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 40.4% of total applications from 42.7% the previous week.

Among the federal programs, the FHA share of total applications decreased to 16.5% from 16.9% the week prior while the VA share of total applications decreased to 14.6% from 15.7% and the USDA share of total applications decreased to 0.4% from 0.5%.

Separately, the MBA’s latest Loan Monitoring Survey reported the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 3 basis points from 0.50% of servicers’ portfolio volume in November to 0.47% as of the end of December. An estimated 235,000 homeowners are in forbearance plans.

The MBA noted that the share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 2 basis points to 0.19% in December while Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased by 4 basis points to 1.07%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities decreased 2 basis points to 0.40%.

Marina Walsh, MBA’s vice president of industry analysis, observed, “At year end, almost 43% of borrowers in forbearance were there due to a natural disaster. Given the disruption and devastation caused by the California wildfires, that share will likely move higher in the months ahead, as homeowners turn to forbearance to allow time to navigate their recovery process.”