MBA: Mortgage Refinance Applications Decline as Mortgage Rates Increase in Latest Weekly Survey

From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease as Rates Reach Two-year High in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

The Refinance Index decreased 16 percent from the previous week and is at its lowest level since July 2011. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 3 percent from one week earlier.
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“Mortgage rates reached their highest point in two years last week. At these rates, many fewer homeowners have an incentive to refinance, and refinance application volume declined more than 15 percent. With this decline in volume, the refinance share dropped to its lowest level in more than two years. Purchase application volume also declined, but not nearly to the same extent, as affordability remains strong,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics
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The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,500 or less)increased to 4.58 percent, the highest rate since July 2011, from 4.46 percent, with points increasing to 0.43 from 0.35 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.
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Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the refinance index.

With 30 year mortgage rates above 4.5%, refinance activity has fallen sharply, decreasing in 7 of the last 8 weeks.

This index is down 48% over the last eight weeks.

The second graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index.  The 4-week average of the purchase index has generally been trending up over the last year, and the 4-week average of the purchase index is up almost 10% from a year ago.