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Economy in Brief
U.S. FHFA House Price Rise Moderates
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index for house purchases increased 0.2% in July (6.4% y/y)...
Philadelphia Fed Nonmanufacturing Business Activity Index Improves
The Philadelphia Fed reported that its Nonmanufacturing Business Index of current conditions at the company level increased to 46.8 in September...
U.S. Gasoline Prices Remain High; Crude Oil Costs Strengthen
Gasoline prices, at $2.84 per gallon last week (10.1% y/y), were unchanged from the prior week...
French Manufacturing Takes a Sizable Step Back
France's INSEE manufacturing survey fell sharply as the headline climate index shed the better part of three points...
Texas Factory Sector Index Retreats; Expectations Are Mixed
The Dallas Fed indicated in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index fell to 28.1 in September...
by Tom Moeller May 11, 2005
Total mortgage applications jumped 9.4% last week according to the Mortgage Bankers Association and began the month 13.9% ahead of the depressed April average.
Applications to purchase a home jumped 9.1% w/w and started May 11.9% ahead of April. During the last ten years there has been a 50% correlation between the y/y change in purchase applications and the change in new plus existing single family home sales.
Applications to refinance rose 9.8%.
The effective interest rate on a conventional 30-year mortgage ticked up to 6.02% from 5.98% but remained down from the high of 6.34% in late March. The effective rate on a 15-year mortgage was 5.65%.
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) | 05/06/05 | 04/29/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Market Index | 781.0 | 714.1 | 5.2% | 735.1 | 1,067.9 | 799.7 |
| Purchase | 526.2 | 482.5 | 6.5% | 454.5 | 395.1 | 354.7 |
| Refinancing | 2,263.3 | 2,061.2 | 3.6% | 2,366.8 | 4,981.8 | 3,388.0 |
