Mortgage Application Activity Slows Down

Mortgage application activity slipped during the week ending Feb. 21, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

The Market Composite Index, the MBA’s measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 1.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index fell by 4%.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index was unchanged from one week earlier while the unadjusted index dropped 5% – the latter was also 3% higher than the same week one year ago.

The Refinance Index decreased 4% from the previous week and was 45% higher than the same week one year ago, while the refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 38.9% of total applications from 38.7% the previous week.

Among the federal programs, the FHA share of total applications increased to 17.4% from 16.6% the week prior while the VA share of total applications decreased to 13.4% from 14.2% and the USDA share of total applications decreased to 0.5% from 0.6%.

Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist, observed, “Although overall refinance application activity remained fairly weak, FHA refinance applications saw an 8% increase over the week.”