US MBA Mortgage Applications Feb 19: -11.4% (prev -5.1%)

 

  • MBA Mortgage Applications US MBA Mortgage Applications Feb 19: -11.4% (prev -5.1%)
  • Composite Index: -11.4%. 
  • Purchase Index: -12%. Non-SA up 7% y/y.
  • Refinance Index: -11%.  Non-SA up 50% y/y.
  • 30-year mortgage rate increased to 3.08% vs. 2.96%.



Combination of higher rates, increasingly scarce inventory, and bad weather saw mortgage apps cont to decline this week, with first big fall in purchase apps in a while, now up only 7% y/y (was more like 17% last week). Given the weather issues, going not going to read too much into this, but I wouldn't be surprised to see mortgage apps level off with rates likely having bottomed and inventory issues. 

From the report:

“Mortgage rates have increased in six of the last eight weeks, with the benchmark 30-year fixed rate last week climbing above 3 percent to its highest level since September 2020. As a result of these higher rates, overall refinance activity fell 11 percent to its lowest level since December 2020, but remained 50 percent higher than a year ago,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “Additionally, the severe winter weather in Texas affected many households and lenders, causing more than a 40 percent drop in both purchase and refinance applications in the state last week.”

Added Kan, “The housing market in most of the country remains strong, with activity last week 7 percent higher than a year ago. The average loan size of purchase applications increased to a record $418,000, in line with the accelerating home-price growth caused by very low inventory levels.”


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Advanced indicators report for September - Big falloff in exports, imports up, inventories increase ex-autos - Neil's Summary

Image
US Advanced Goods Trade Balance Sep: -$96.3B (est -$88.3B; prev -$87.6B; prevR -$88.2B) US Wholesale Inventories (M/M) Sep P: 1.1% (est 1.0%; prev 1.2%) - Retail Inventories (M/M) Sep: -0.2% (est 0.2%; prev 0.1%; prevR 0.2%) Advance Economic Indicators Report - September 2021 (census.gov) Quick update on the advanced indicators report for September which summarizes first look at imports, exports, and inventories.   Exports - After increasing +0.8% m/m (all numbers m/m unless otherwise noted) on a seasonally adjusted basis in August (revised up from +0.7%) on the back of industrial supplies (+6.6%) and consumer goods (+1.6%), September exports fell by a big -4.7% as all categories other than consumer goods (+4.2%) fell, led by a reversal in last month's leader, industrial supplies (-9.9%) and capital goods (-3.6%).  Exports are up 16.8% y/y. Imports - After increasing +1.0% in August (revised up from +0.8%) led by industrial supplies (+3.6%) and consumer goods (+4.9%), imp...
Read more

Int'l - 2/24/21

Image
 Int'l Update - Date mostly from Briefing.com with some adds. Indices as of 8 am. Never thought about the fact that Japanese government is sitting on big gains in its ETF purchases. Asia Equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region ended the midweek session on a lower note outside of India which finished up strongly. Japan's Nikkei: -1.6% Hong Kong's Hang Seng: -3.0% China's Shanghai Composite: -2.0% India's Sensex: +2.1% South Korea's Kospi: -2.5% Australia's ASX All Ordinaries: -0.9%. In economic data:  - Japan's January BoJ Core CPI -0.3% yr/yr (last -0.3%) - South Korea's March Manufacturing BSI Index 83 (last 84) - Australia's Q4 Construction Work Done -0.9% qtr/qtr (expected 1.0%; last -2.6%). Q4 Wage Price Index 0.6% qtr/qtr (expected 0.3%; last 0.1%); 1.4% yr/yr (expected 1.1%; last 1.4%) - Hong Kong's Q3 GDP 0.2% qtr/qtr, as expected (last 2.8%); -3.0% yr/yr, as expected (last -3.5%) In news: Japan's Finance Minister Aso said that a...
Read more

US Univ. Of Michigan Sentiment Oct F: 71.7 (est 71.4; prev 71.4) - Final UofM consumer confidence comes in around preliminary estimates - Neil's Summar

Image
US Univ. Of Michigan Sentiment Oct F: 71.7 (est 71.4; prev 71.4) - Current Conditions: 77.7 (est 77.9; prev 77.9) - Expectations: 67.9 (est 67.2; prev 67.2) - 1-Year Inflation: 4.8% (est 4.8%; prev 4.8%) - 5-10 Year Inflation: 2.9% (prev 2.8%) Surveys of Consumers (umich.edu) University of Michigan's final estimate of October consumer sentiment came in pretty much in line with the near 9-year lows originally reported.  The overall index ticked up to 71.7 from initial estimate of 71.4 which was down from 72.8 in September.  Future expectations, which fell from 79 to 65 in August, and improved to 68.1 in September, fell back to 67.2 in the first estimate and improved just to 67.9 in the final estimate, the second-lowest reading in a decade (after August).  Current conditions, which fell from 84.5 to 78.5 in August, and improved to 80.1 in September, fell back to 77.9 in the first estimate and fell a little further to 77.7 in the final estimate, the lowest since April 2020....
Read more