Mortgage Applications Edge Upward For Week

Mortgage applications increased slightly for the week while remaining significantly higher than last year’s levels, according to the weekly Mortgage Applications Survey released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Overall, mortgage applications were up 2.9 percent for the week ending September 4. Refinances were up 3 percent from the previous week and were 60 percent higher than last year at this time. Purchase applications were up 0.2 percent for the week and 40 percent for the year. 

“There continues to be resiliency in the purchase market,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “Applications were up almost 3 percent on a weekly basis and the average loan size continued to increase, hitting a survey high at $368,600.”

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 63.1 percent of total applications from 62.5 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity decreased to 2.2 percent of total applications.