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Economy in Brief
U.S. Wholesale Inventories Post Strong February Gain; Sales Fall
Wholesale inventories increased 0.6% (2.0% y/y) during February...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Unexpectedly Increase
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 744,000 during the week ended April 3...
Total PMIs Gain Traction in March
The PMI readings for March show improvement again...
U.S. Consumer Credit Outstanding Bounces Back in February
Consumer credit outstanding surged $27.6 billion during February...
U.S. Trade Deficit Widens to Record during February
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $71.1 during February...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller April 8, 2015
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index inched 0.4% higher last week (30.7% y/y). Purchase applications jumped 6.8% (11.9% y/y), strong for the third straight week, while refinance applications declined 3.3% (+46.8% y/y).
The effective interest rate on a 15-year mortgage slipped to 3.22%, the lowest level in eight weeks. The effective rate on a 30-year fixed rate loan nudged lower to 3.93%. The rate on a Jumbo 30-year loan fell to 3.88%. For adjustable 5-year mortgages, the effective interest rate fell sharply to 2.92%, its lowest level since June 2013.
The average mortgage loan size slipped to $268,300 (+13.4% y/y). For refinancings, it declined to $250,200 (+24.3% y/y) and for purchases it rose to $292,700 (7.3% y/y).
Applications for fixed interest rate loans increased 34.8% y/y, but adjustable rate loan applications declined 14.1% y/y.
The survey covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. The base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100. The figures for weekly mortgage applications and interest rates are available in Haver's SURVEYW database.
MBA Mortgage Applications (SA, 3/16/90=100) | 04/03/15 | 03/27/15 | 03/20/15 | Y/Y % | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Market Index | 458.9 | 457.0 | 437.1 | 30.7 | 361.5 | 616.6 | 813.8 |
Purchase | 201.8 | 188.9 | 178.7 | 11.9 | 172.1 | 197.5 | 187.8 |
Refinancing | 1,942.2 | 2,008.7 | 1,932.5 | 46.8 | 1,449.8 | 3,070.0 | 4,505.0 |
15-Year Mortgage Effective Interest Rate (%) | 3.22 | 3.29 | 3.29 | 3.64 (4/14) |
3.54 | 3.42 | 3.25 |