Per the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) survey through the week ending January 6th, total mortgage activity increased 1.2% from the previous week and the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) rate fell sixteen basis points to 6.42%. The FRM rate has remained near 6.4% over the past month.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, rose by 1.2% on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis from one week earlier. Purchasing activity decreased 0.5%, while refinancing activity increased 5.1% week-over-week.
Purchasing activity has reached its lowest level since the first week of January 2015 (159.2). While interest rates remain elevated, purchasing activity will likely remain low as buyers wait for rates to decrease further. Refinancing activity continues to see little activity as many homeowners refinanced when interest rates were significantly lower than today.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased from 30.3% to 30.7% over the week, while the adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity remained at 7.3%. The average loan size for purchases was $389,000 for the first week of January after peaking at $454,300 in March of 2022. The average loan size across FRMs, ARMs, purchases and refinances had steadily fallen as we approached the end of 2022.
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