Thunderstruck! The election of Donald Trump has rocked markets. But not mortgage applications … yet.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 10.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 12 percent compared with the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 5 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 7 percent compared with the previous week and was 2 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
The Refinance Index decreased 19 percent from the previous week and was 48 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
“Ten-year Treasury rates remain volatile and continue to put upward pressure on mortgage rates. The 30-year fixed rate last week increased to 6.81 percent, the highest level since July,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “Applications decreased for the sixth consecutive week, with purchase activity falling to its lowest level since mid-August and refinance activity declining to the lowest level since May. The average loan size on a refinance application dropped below $300,000, as borrowers with larger loans tend to be more sensitive to any given changes in mortgage rates.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 39.9 percent of total applications from 43.1 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 7.0 percent of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications decreased to 15.5 percent from 16.4 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications decreased to 12.5 percent from 14.6 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications increased to 0.5 percent from 0.4 percent the week prior.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) increased to 6.81 percent from 6.73 percent, with points decreasing to 0.68 from 0.69 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $766,550) increased to 6.98 percent from 6.77 percent, with points increasing to 0.65 from 0.49 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 6.75 percent from 6.55 percent, with points decreasing to 0.87 from 0.94 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 6.21 percent from 6.27 percent, with points decreasing to 0.55 from 0.77 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 6.05 percent from 6.20 percent, with points increasing to 0.84 from 0.59 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The bond market is reacting to the election of Trump with a clear Bear Steepening.
Bear steepening happens when yields move up across tenors, but long-end yields move up even faster than short-end yields.
This isn’t going to help mortgage applications due to lowering rates.
