MBA: Mortgage Purchase Applications Increased in Weekly Survey

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 7.4 percent on
a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 9
percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 9 percent from the previous
week and was 76 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase
Index increased 7 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 9 percent
compared with the previous week and was 42 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

“Mortgage rates continued to increase last week. The 30-year fixed rate rose to 6.79 percent – the highest
level since November 2022 and 270 basis points higher than a year ago,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice
President and Deputy Chief Economist. “Even with higher rates, there was an uptick in applications last
week, but this was in comparison to two weeks of declines to very low levels, including a holiday week.
Comparing the application indices from a year ago, purchase applications were still down 42 percent, and
refinance activity was down 76 percent. Many borrowers are waiting on the sidelines for rates to come
back down.”
..
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances
($726,200 or less) increased to 6.79 percent from 6.71 percent, with points increasing to 0.80 from 0.77
(including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.
emphasis added