Mortgage applications increased 2.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis in the latest MBA survey. This follows the prior week’s 12% increase in refinance applications, which marked the strongest refi week in months.
The Mortgage Bankers Association‘s market composite index increased 6% on an unadjusted basis compared with the previous week.
Continuing a strong streak was the refinance index, which increased 10% from last week and 33% year-over-year. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 40.2% of total applications from 39.0% the previous week.
The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased 2% from one week earlier and, on an unadjusted basis, the index increased 4% from last week and was 2% higher than the same week one year ago.
“Mortgage rates moved slightly lower last week, which led to the pace of refinance applications reaching its strongest week since October 2024,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “The average loan size for refinance borrowers increased, as these borrowers tend to be more responsive for a given change in rates. Purchase applications were down from the previous week’s level but were slightly ahead of last year’s pace. The average loan size for a purchase application increased to its highest level since March 2022 at $456,100, partially driven by fewer FHA purchase applications but more VA loans compared to the previous week.”
Data from this week’s measures saw the adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increase to 6.0% of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications decreased to 16.0% from 16.2% the week prior and the VA share of total applications increased to 14.6% from 13.3% during the same period. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.5% for the third week in a row.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) saw marginal movement to 6.95% from 6.97%. As for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $766,550), numbers decreased to 6.96% from 7.01%
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA remained unchanged at 6.69%.
Average contract interest rates for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages saw a small downward shift to 6.35% from 6.36% while the average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 6.20% from 6.07%.
