Mortgage applications continue to jump higher as interest rates plummet

Mortgage applications increased 55.4 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 6, 2020. In response to the current interest rate environment, MBA now forecasts total mortgage originations to come in around $2.61 trillion this year - a 20.3 percent gain from 2019's volume ($2.17 trillion). Refinance originations are expected to double earlier MBA projections, jumping 36.7 percent to around $1.23 trillion. Purchase originations are now forecasted to rise 8.3 percent to $1.38 trillion.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 55.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier to the highest level since April 2009. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 54 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 79 percent from the previous week to the highest level since April 2009, and was 479 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 6 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 7 percent compared with the previous week and was 12 percent higher than the same week one year ago.


The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($510,400 or less) decreased to the lowest level since December 2012, equaling the lowest level in survey history at 3.47 percent, from 3.57 percent with points increasing to 0.27 from 0.26 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.