U.S. Mortgage Applications Rise in the December 6 Week

• Applications to purchase a house drop, while applications to refinance surge.
• Slight decrease in rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans.
• Average loan size decreases modestly.

Mortgage applications in the week ended December 6 increased 5.4% (15.9% y/y) after rising 2.8% (18.1% y/y) in the week ended November 29. Applications for loans to purchase a house dropped 4.1% (+3.5% y/y) in the December 6 week, after a rise of 5.6% (11.8% y/y) in the November 29 week, while applications to refinance a loan surged 27.2% (42.2% y/y) in the latest week after declining 0.6% (+33.5% y/y) the week before. These data are from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey and the amounts quoted here are seasonally adjusted.

The effective interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate loan was 6.86% in the week ended December 6, down slightly from 6.89% in the November 29 week. The rate on a 5-year ARM dropped 50bps to 5.96% in the latest week from 6.46% in the November 29 week, still higher than 5.84% in mid-September. The rate on a 30-year jumbo loan was 6.94% in the week ended December 6, down slightly from 6.96% in the November 29 week, but slightly higher than 6.90% in mid-October.

The share of applications to refinance an existing mortgage was 46.8% in the December 6 week, sharply higher than the 38.7% share in the November 29 week. The largest share in recent months was 55.7% the week of September 20. The share of applications for ARMs was 5.3% in the latest week, down from 6.0% in the November 29 week. The last time the share was 5.3% was in the week ended February 25, 2022.

The average loan size in the December 6 week was $368,200, down 2.5% from $377,600 in the November 29 week, and up 3.6% from a year ago. The average size of an application for a loan to purchase a house was $416,200 in December 6 week, down from $431,900 in the week before, while the average size of an application to refinance an existing loan increased to $313,600 in the latest week from $291,500 in the November 29 week.

The Mortgage Bankers Association Survey covers 75% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. The base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100. The figures for weekly mortgage applications and interest rates are available in Haver’s SURVEYS database.