U.S. mortgage applications rise last week

Source: Xinhua | 2018-11-29

Mortgage applications increased last week after the 30-year fixed mortgage rates in the United States edged down, according to the latest survey released by Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) on Wednesday.
For the week ending Nov. 23, MBA's market composite index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 5.5 percent from one week earlier.
The refinance index, a gauge of mortgage refinance activity in the United States, increased 1 percent from the previous week. Meanwhile, the purchase index increased 9 percent from one week earlier.
"After several weeks of market volatility, 30-year fixed mortgage rates decreased four basis points to 5.12 percent last week," said Mike Fratantoni, MBA's chief economist, "homebuyers responded, with purchase applications 1.7 percent higher than a year ago."
Fratantoni noted that the rise in purchase activity resulted from conventional purchase applications which surged almost 12 percent, while government purchases remained unchanged over the week.
"This also pushed the average loan size for purchase applications higher, which likely meant there were fewer first-time homebuyers in the market last week," Fratantoni added.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., MBA is a national association representing all facets of the real estate finance industry in the United States. MBA said that its survey covers over 75 percent of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990.