This blog post was written by La Shawn Skeete. La Shawn is a Summer Research Intern, and is currently studying at The University of Maryland, College Park pursuing a degree in Economics.

  • Seasonally adjusted mortgage loan applications decreased 4.7 % from the week ending June 19th. There were, however, 5.5% more applications made when compared with this week last year.
  • Seasonally adjusted applications for purchase decreased slightly over the week by 4.1% but application volumes are still 13.7% higher than this time last year.
  • Applications for refinance also decreased over the week by 5.2%. Government refinance applications remain notably higher than this time last year (32.3%) due to the FHA fee reduction in late January 2015.
  • 30-year FRM rates increased 7 basis points over the week to 4.26%, nearly reaching the 4.28% from this time last year. Fixed rate mortgage applications volume is stronger that the same time last year while adjustable rate mortgage applications are down.

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  • Driven by slim inventories, the median home price increased 7.9% over the past 12 months to $228,700.
  • More housing supply could help to sustain sales momentum in the face of increases in rates and home prices.

Mortgage application data serve as an indicator to homes sales and other home related expenditures such as appliances and furniture.

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