Overall mortgage purchases last week jumped 30.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, as sub-6 percent interest rates fueled a frenzy of new borrowers and refinancers, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey.
The MBA seasonally adjusted purchase index increased by 12.5 percent to 501.6 from 445.9 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted refinance index increased by 51.5 percent to 3,327.3 from 2,195.7 one week earlier.
“Spurred by mortgage rates below 6 percent, the purchase index reached a record high and the refinance index increased by over 51 percent last week. The refinance index increase marks the highest week to week percent increase since the week ending Jan. 12, 2001,” said Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s vice president of research and economics.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 57.7 percent of total applications from 51.6 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate-mortgage share of activity increased to 27.8 percent from 26.6 percent the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.55 percent from 5.56 percent one week earlier. Points including the origination fee decreased to 1.32 from 1.38 the previous week for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio loans.
