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- US: Kansas City Fed Mfg Survey (May)
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Economy in Brief
Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index Dips in May But Remains Strong
The Kansas City Fed reported that its manufacturing sector business activity index declined to 23 in May...
U.S. Pending Home Sales Decline Sharply in April
Home buying remains under pressure...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Eased Slightly in the Latest Week
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended May 21 were 210,000 (-52.4% y/y)...
U.S. Durable Goods Orders Increase Modestly in April
Manufacturers' new orders for durable goods increased 0.4% during April (12.2% y/y)...
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...
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 August 22, 2012
The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications fell 7.4% last week (+17.5% y/y), the third straight week of sharp decline. Applications have fallen 13.2% from last month's high. Applications to refinance fell 9.2% w/w and dropped 15.5% during the last three weeks. Conversely, home purchase applications nudged 0.9% higher last week but still have fallen 6.9% since May. Applications for fixed interest rate loans fell 7.6% w/w for the third straight week of sharp decline. Variable rate loan applications have fallen nearly one-third since their recent high.
The effective rate on fixed-interest, conventional 15-year mortgages nudged up w/w to 3.26%. The effective rate on a 30-year fixed rate loan increased to 3.99%. On a 30-year Jumbo loan, the effective rate rose to 4.23%, its highest since late-June. 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 roughly steady at 2.88% but still was 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) | 08/17/12 | 08/10/12 | 08/03/12 | Y/Y% | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Market Index | 821.3 | 886.8 | 928.8 | 17.5 | 572.3 | 659.3 | 736.4 |
Purchase | 177.4 | 175.9 | 179.5 | 12.3 | 182.6 | 199.8 | 263.5 |
Refinancing | 4,609.9 | 5,077.3 | 5,349.6 | 19.7 | 2,858.4 | 3,348.1 | 3,509.2 |
15-Year Mortgage Effective Interest Rate (%) | 3.26 | 3.22 | 3.19 | 3.76 (8/11) |
3.97 | 4.39 | 4.85 |