U.S. Mortgage Applications Dip in Mid-March

---

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 18, 2016, mortgage applications decreased 3.3 percent from one week earlier.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 3.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 3 percent compared with the previous week.

The Refinance Index decreased 5 percent from the previous week.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 25 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 53.9 percent of total applications from 55.0 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained unchanged at 4.9 percent of total applications.

The FHA share of total applications increased to 11.8 percent from 11.7 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications increased to 12.6 percent from 12.3 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications increased to 0.9 percent from 0.8 percent the week prior.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) decreased to 3.93 percent from 3.94 percent, with points decreasing to 0.35 from  0.42 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.  The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) decreased to 3.85 percent from 3.86 percent, with points decreasing to 0.27 from 0.28 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 3.74 percent from 3.77 percent, with points decreasing to 0.32 from 0.33 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.18 percent from 3.22 percent, with points decreasing to 0.34 from 0.39 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 3.13 percent from 3.23 percent, with points increasing to 0.36 from 0.35 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate decreased from last week.