Mortgage Purchase Applications Rise, Refinancing Falls

Purchase applications for home mortgages rose a seasonally adjusted 5 percent in the November 17 week, though overall mortgage activity was only barely higher (by 0.1 percent) than in the prior week as the increase in buyers was offset by a 5 percent decline in refinancing activity. On an unadjusted basis, the purchase index rose only 1 percent from the prior week, putting the year-on-year gain at 4 percent, down a sharp 14 percentage points from last week's reading due to an outsized weekly jump higher in the index in the comparable week last year. The slowdown in refinancing took its share of mortgage activity down 1.4 percentage points from the prior week to 49.9 percent. Mortgage rates rose slightly though remaining at historically low levels, with the average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages ($424,100 or less) up 2 basis points to 4.20 percent. Today's report shows home-buyers quite active and adds to recent evidence of a housing market reviving in the fourth quarter, though the year-on-year gain, now at just 4 percent after much stronger readings for most of the year, suddenly looks much less impressive.