Mortgage Applications Increase in the Week Ending March 8th

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey for the week ending Friday, March 8th, the Market Composite Index—a measure of mortgage loan application volume—increased 7.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 8.0% compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index increased 12.0% from one week ago and was 5.0% higher than the same week one year ago.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 5.0% compared with one week ago. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 6.0% compared with the previous week but was 11.0% lower than the same week one year ago.

Commenting on the results of this week’s survey, MBA Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni said:

“Mortgage rates dropped below 7% last week for most loan types because of incoming economic data showing a weaker service sector and a less robust job market, with an increase in the unemployment rate and downward revisions to job growth in prior months. Purchase application volume increased for the week but remains about 11% below last year’s level. By contrast, refinance volume picked up by 12%, with a larger, 24% increase in the government refinance index. While these percentage increases are large, the level of refinance activity remains quite low, and we expect that most of this activity reflects borrowers who took out a loan at or near the peak of rates in the past two years.”