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Economy in Brief
U.S. Mortgage Applications Continue to Weaken
The MBA Loan Applications Index fell 1.2% (-54.5% y/y) in the week ended May 20...
German Climate Reading Continues to Skid Toward the Abyss
Germany's GfK consumer climate reading improved ever so slightly in June...
U.S. New Home Sales Plunge in April as Prices Jump
The new home sales market is unraveling...
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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...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
State Coincident Indexes in April 2022
State Labor Markets in April 2022
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
by Tom Moeller June 27, 2012
The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications fell 7.1% (63.6% y/y) last week but nevertheless remained near the highest level since early 2009. Applications to refinance fell 8.3% (89.6% y/y) while home purchase applications slipped 1.4% (+2.8% y/y). Applications for fixed interest rate loans fell 7.0% w/w but remained up nearly two-thirds y/y. Variable rate loans fell the same amount w/w but were up 21.3% y/y.
The effective rate on fixed-interest, conventional 15-year mortgages held roughly steady w/w at a low of 3.35% and was down from the 4.50% high in February of last year. The effective rate on a 30-year fixed rate loan also held at 4.00%. On a 30-year Jumbo loan the effective rate was 4.23%. 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 was 2.96% and remained down from its 3.93% high during February of last year.
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) | 06/22/12 | 06/15/12 | 06/08/12 | Y/Y % | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Market Index | 875.1 | 941.5 | 949.4 | 63.6 | 572.3 | 659.3 | 736.4 |
Purchase | 185.4 | 188.1 | 205.6 | 2.8 | 182.6 | 199.8 | 263.5 |
Refinancing | 4,938.3 | 5,385.8 | 5,334.3 | 89.6 | 2,858.4 | 3,348.1 | 3,509.2 |
15-Year Mortgage Effective Interest Rate (%) | 3.35 | 3.36 | 3.35 | 3.94 (6/11) |
3.97 | 4.39 | 4.85 |