Westchester County Home News: Mortgage demand spikes

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Mortgage demand spikes

Demand for purchase loans highest since January

By Inman News, Wednesday, October 7, 2009.

Mortgage applications surged 16.4 percent last week as demand for both refinance and purchase loans registered double-digit increases, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in releasing the results of its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.

An index measuring demand for applications to refinance was up a seasonally adjusted 18.2 percent from the week before, to its highest level since mid-May, the MBA said.

Applications for purchase loans were up a seasonally adjusted 13.2 percent for the week ending Oct. 2, to their highest level since January -- but still down 2.2 percent from a year ago.

Applications for government-backed purchase loans, mostly FHA, were up a seasonally adjusted 14.4 percent to their highest levels since the survey's inception in 1990.

Applications to refinance accounted for 66.3 percent of all mortgage applications, up from 65.3 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent of total applications from the previous week.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages remained below 5 percent for the third week in a row, the MBA said, falling 5 basis points to an average of 4.89 percent with 1.13 points (including the origination fee) for borrowers putting down 20 percent.