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Economy in Brief
U.S. New Home Sales Almost Unchanged Since August
New single-family home sales around the country changed very little in October and also in September...
U.S. Q3 Growth GDP Unrevised at 33.1%; Corporate Profits Rebound
The second estimate of Q3 U.S. real GDP indicated that economic activity rose an unrevised 33.1% q/q...
U.S. Durable Goods Orders Rise Further in October
Manufacturers’ orders for durable goods increased 1.3% m/m (-0.3% y/y) in October...
U.S. Goods Trade Deficit Deepens During October
The advance estimate of the U.S. trade deficit in goods deepened to $80.29 billion during October...
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rise for a Second Week
Initial claims for regular state unemployment insurance rose again this past week ending November 21 to 778,000...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller March 23, 2005
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications dropped 9.5% last week and pulled the average level in March 4.1% below February.
Applications to refinance plummeted 16.5% leaving the February average off 13.5% from February.
Purchase applications fell for the first week in the last four. The 3.5% decline still left purchase applications 5.1% higher than in February.
The effective interest rate on a conventional 30-year mortgage rose to 6.19% from 6.16% the prior week and from 5.85% in February. The effective rate on a 15-year mortgage also rose to 5.81%.
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) | 03/18/05 | 03/11/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Market Index | 658.8 | 727.6 | -40.9% | 735.1 | 1,067.9 | 799.7 |
| Purchase | 446.4 | 462.8 | -0.6% | 454.5 | 395.1 | 354.7 |
| Refinancing | 1,894.4 | 2,267.5 | -62.0% | 2,366.8 | 4,981.8 | 3,388.0 |
