Purchase Mortgage Activity Strong Despite Surging Rates!

Interest rates for fixed rate mortgage products shot up by at least a dozen basis points during the week ended January 14, still the volume of purchase mortgages rose significantly and, while refinancing declined, it still accounted for the bulk of application activity.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 2.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index rose 3 percent.

The Refinance Index did fall 3 percent compared to the week ended January 7 and was 49 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity slipped to 60.3 percent of total applications from 64.1 percent the previous week. By: Jann Swanson Mortgage News Daily. Wed, Jan 19 2022, 8:46 AM