Recent Updates
- New Zealand: Value of Building Work Put in Place by Region (Q4)
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- US: Public Debt (Feb), Mfrs' Shipments Inventories & Orders (Jan), Productivity & Costs with Revisions (Q4)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Rise Just 9,000
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose modestly by 9,000 to 745,000 in the week ended February 27...
U.S. Productivity's Decline Lessened in Q4'20; Reverses Q3 Increase
Revisions to nonfarm business sector productivity indicated a 4.2% decline during Q4'20...
EMU Unemployment Rate Steadies in January
The overall EMU unemployment rate was steady in January, off peak, but still elevated...
U.S. ADP Nonfarm Private Payroll Increase Disappoints in February
Job market strength moderated last month....
U.S. ISM Services Index Weakens in February
The ISM Composite Index of Services Activity declined to 55.3 during February...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller February 16, 2005
Mortgage applications dipped modestly last week following two weeks of gain according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Survey. The 0.5% w/w decline followed gains of 4.2% and 7.3% during the prior two weeks.
The decline was due to a 4.8% drop in purchase applications. During the last ten years there has been a 59% correlation between the y/y change in purchase applications and the change in new plus existing home sales.
Applications to refinance rose another 4.1% following two weeks of gain but versus last year still are down 23.3%.
The effective interest rate on a conventional 30-year mortgage ticked higher to 5.75% but remained below the 5.89% averaged last month. The effective rate on a 15-year mortgage also rose to 5.41% last week.
The Mortgage Bankers Association surveys between 20 to 35 of the top lenders in the U.S. housing industry to derive its refinance, purchase and market indexes. The weekly survey accounts for more than 40% of all applications processed each week by mortgage lenders. Visit the Mortgage Bankers Association site here.
MBA Mortgage Applications (3/16/90=100) | 02/11/05 | 02/04/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Market Index | 732.3 | 735.9 | -12.5% | 735.1 | 1,067.9 | 799.7 |
Purchase | 423.3 | 444.6 | 2.3% | 454.5 | 395.1 | 354.7 |
Refinancing | 2,530.1 | 2,430.7 | -23.3% | 2,366.8 | 4,981.8 | 3,388.0 |