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Economy in Brief
U.S. Energy Prices Rise Further
Retail gasoline prices increased to $4.59 per gallon in the week ended May 23...
S&P Flash PMIs Are Mixed in May As Manufacturing Erodes Slowly
Among the early reporting countries in Europe and Japan, the S&P PMI readings for May tilt toward weakness...
NABE Lowers Growth Expectations for Next Year & 2022
The NABE expects the economic expansion to continue through its third year...
Chicago Fed National Activity Index Improves in April
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) rose to 0.47 during April...
IFO Registers Small Rebound on the Month
Germany's IFO index has rebounded on the month...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Profits & Margins Plunge In Q1: Expect More Margin Contraction As Fed Squeezes Inflation
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation and Fed Policy: A Relationship which Should Worry the Fed and Scare Investors
Why Have the Yields on TIPS Been Negative in the Past Two Years?
by Tom Moeller January 11, 2012
The index of total mortgage applications rose 4.5% last week to 663.1 (March 16, 1990 = 100). The increase followed the prior week's 4.1% decline and the index has moved irregularly sideways since October. Applications to refinance rose 3.3% (60.4% y/y) and made up a 2.5% decline during the prior week. They remained up by two-thirds y/y. Applications to purchase a home rose 8.1% and made up most of the prior week's decline. Despite the weekly gain, applications remain off by two-thirds from the 2005 high. As borrowers seek to lock in low financing costs, applications for fixed-rate loan financing have risen sharply since the Spring. Applications for variable rate mortgages moved sideways.
The effective rate on fixed-interest, conventional 15-year mortgages held at its prior low of 3.49%. The effective rate on a 30-year fixed rate loan also was constant at 4.23%. On a 30-year Jumbo the effective rate fell to a new low of 4.47%. Though it's narrowed slightly of late, the spread between 15- and 30-year loan rates continued wide by historical standards. The effective interest rate on an adjustable 5-year mortgage fell to 3.08% from 3.14% averaged during December.
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 covers roughly 50% of all U.S. residential mortgage applications processed each week by mortgage banks, commercial banks and thrifts. The figures for weekly mortgage applications are available in Haver's SURVEYW database.
MBA Mortgage Applications (SA, 3/16/90=100) | 01/06/12 | 12/30/11 | 12/23/11 | Y/Y % | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Market Index | 663.1 | 634.5 | 661.4 | 37.4 | 572.3 | 659.3 | 736.4 |
Purchase | 177.1 | 163.9 | 181.4 | -8.0 | 182.6 | 199.8 | 263.5 |
Refinancing | 3,560.6 | 3,448.3 | 3,516.8 | 60.4 | 2,858.4 | 3,348.1 | 3,509.2 |
15-Year Mortgage Effective Interest Rate (%) | 3.49 | 3.50 | 3.65 | 4.40 (1/11) |
3.97 | 4.39 | 4.85 |