Mortgage Applications Steady

From the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA):

Mortgage Application Volume Steady in Latest Survey

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 7. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 566.8, an increase of 1.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 561.0 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 29.1 percent compared with the previous week and was down 36.3 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 2.6 percent to 425.0 from 414.2 the previous week and the Refinance Index decreased by 1.6 percent to 1400.5 from 1423.9 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which increased 1.2 percent to 837.3 from 827.2 the previous week, and the Government Index, which decreased 1.3 percent to 115.8 from 117.3 the previous week.

The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is down 0.2 percent to 556.3 from 557.5. The four week moving average is up 0.6 percent to 410.8 from 408.2 for the Purchase Index, while this average is down 1.7 percent to 1411.6 from 1436.4 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 34.0 percent of total applications from 35.0 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 28.7 percent of total applications from 29.5 percent the previous week.

Posting this up a bit later than usual. Unfortunately I was busy for most of the day. There was a dramatic decline in the unadjusted data for last week, however realize that it was a holiday/shortened week. But turning a 29.1% decline into a 1% increase? They must have brought out a sledge hammer to make an adjustment like that.

Caveat Emptor!
Grim