Mortgage Application Volume Boosted by Fed Comments

Mortgage Application Volume Boosted by Fed Comments

The volume of mortgage applications increased last week for both home purchases and refinancing. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of that volume, increased 6.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis and was 7 percent higher on an unadjusted basis compared with the previous week.  The Refinance Index increased rose by 10 percent but remains 44 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 28.0 percent of total applications from 27.2 percent the previous week. [refiappschart] The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index was up 5 percent. Before adjustment that index was 5.3 percent higher for the week, lagging its level a year earlier by 32 percent.   [purchaseappschart] Joel K