Bolstered by a rebound in purchase applications and a surge in refinance applications, overall mortgage loan application volume soared 17.7 percent for the week ending June 11, 2010, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday.
According to MBA’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, the purchase index broke its streak of declines and inched up 7.3 percent from the week prior. This, MBAsaid, was the first increase in the index in six weeks.
“Mortgage applications for home purchases increased last week, the first increase in over a month,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s VP of research and economics. “While it is clear that purchase applications in May dropped sharply as a result of the tax credit induced increase in applications in April, it is unclear whether we are seeing the beginnings of a rebound now.”
In addition, MBA said the refinance index shot up 21.1 percent from the previous week, reaching the highest level recorded in the survey since May 2009. As a result of this increase, the refinance share of mortgage activity jumped to 74.8 percent of total applications, up from 72.2 percent one week earlier.
The week-to-week surge in mortgage application volume was accompanied by historically low mortgage rates. According to MBA, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased just slightly to 4.82 percent from 4.81 percent, and the average rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.23 percent from 4.26 percent.
From Brittany Dunn of DSNEWS.com 6/16/2010
