Builder Confidence Improves Thanks to Rates; Purchase Mortgage Applications Reach 8 Year High

Builder Confidence Improves Thanks to Rates; Purchase Mortgage Applications Reach 8 Year High

January 11 ended the first full business week in a while and mortgage activity responded accordingly. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a strong rebound when, despite a government shutdown, business returned more or less to normal. MBA's Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 13.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week ended January 4, reaching its highest level since last February. On an unadjusted basis, the Index was up 45 percent. Purchase mortgage applications moved higher for the sixth time in the last eight weeks, resuming the upward trajectory that was interrupted by the Christmas holidays. That index was up 9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis to its highest level since April 2010. The unadjusted Purchase Index