US Mortgage Applications Fall in the Week Ending March 28—Third Consecutive Decrease

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Friday, March 28, the Market Composite Index—a measure of mortgage loan application volume—decreased 1.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1.0% compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index decreased 6.0% from the previous week but was 57.0% higher than the same week one year ago.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2.0% from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 2.0% percent compared with the previous week and was 9.0% higher than the same week one year ago.

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

“Treasury yields continue to be volatile as economic uncertainty dominates markets. Most mortgage rates finished last week lower, with the 30-year fixed essentially unchanged at 6.70%. Last week’s level of purchase applications was its highest since the end of January, driven by a 3% increase in conventional purchases, while government purchase applications were down 2%. Overall purchase activity has shown year-over-year growth for more than two months as the inventory of existing homes for sale continues to increase, a positive development for the housing market despite the uncertain near-term outlook. Refinance applications were down almost 6% last week and remain very sensitive to rate movements, as most borrowers have mortgages with lower rates.”