Mortgage Rates Fell, Purchase Applications Fell, Refinancings Fell

From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease Slightly in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

Mortgage applications decreased 1.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 23, 2014. ...

The Refinance Index decreased 1 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent from one week earlier. ...

...The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) decreased to 4.31 percent, the lowest level since June 2013, from 4.33 percent, with points decreasing to 0.15 from 0.20 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.

emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the refinance index.

The refinance index is down 73% from the levels in May 2013 (one year ago).

As expected, with the mortgage rate increases, refinance activity is very low this year.

The second graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index.

According to the MBA, the unadjusted purchase index is down about 15% from a year ago.