The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) at the end of the second week of December increased by one basis point to 6.42% and the total mortgage activity increased by 3.2% from the previous week, as per the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) survey.
In addition to the above, the Market Composite Index, which is a measure of the volume of mortgage loan applications rose by 3.2% on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis from the previous week. There has been a week over week increment of 4% in purchasing activity and 2.8% of refinancing activity.
Although the purchasing activity as per the purchasing activity index registered a 4% week over week hike, it was 38.6% lower than the same week the previous year. Also, despite the increase in refinancing activity, it was 85.1% lower than the same week the previous year. The refinancing portion of mortgage activity increased from 28.7% to 29.4% over the week, while the adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) portion of activity registered a nominal increment from 7.6% to 7.7%.
Mortgage activity by potential home buyers may increase when home price growth stabilizes and mortgage interest rates decrease further.