Mortgage Applications Decline in the Week Ending April 18

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Friday, April 18, the Market Composite Index—a measure of mortgage loan application volume—declined 12.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 11.0% compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index declined 20.0% from the previous week but was 43.0% higher than the same week one year ago.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 7% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 6% compared with the previous week but was 6% higher than the same week one year ago.

Commenting on the results of this week’s survey, MBA Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist Joel Kan said:

“Overall mortgage application activity declined last week, as rates increased to their highest level in two months. The 30-year fixed rate rose for the second straight week to 6.9%, an almost 30-basis-point increase over two weeks. These higher rates drove a 20% drop in refinance applications, especially for higher balance loans, with the average loan size falling substantially. The refinance share of applications at 37.3% was the lowest since January. Similar to the previous week, economic uncertainty and rate volatility impacted prospective homebuyers as we saw a 7% decline in purchase applications. Both conventional and government purchase activity fell relative to the week before, but the overall level of purchase applications was still 6% higher than a year ago.”