Even as mortgage interest rates retreated across the board last week Mortgage application volume remained essentially unchanged.  The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that applications for mortgages during the week ended June 27 were down 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis according to its Market Composite Index and down 1 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis.

The Refinance Index ticked up 0.1 percent from the week ended June 20 and the share of all applications that were for the purpose of refinancing rose from 52 percent to 53 percent. 

Refinance Index vs 30 Yr Fixed

Both the seasonally adjusted and the unadjusted Purchase Index slipped 1 percent from the previous week and the unadjusted index was 16 percent below its level in the same week in 2013.

Purchase Index vs 30 Yr Fixed

Contract interest rates declined during the week for all mortgage products as did effective rates for fixed-rate products.  The average contract rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages (FRM) with conforming loan balances of $417,000 or less was 4.28 percent with 0.14 point.  The previous week the rate had been 4.33 percent with 0.18 point.   

The jumbo version of the 30-year FRM (balances greater than $417,000) decreased 2 basis points to 4.26 percent.  Points decreased to 0.06 from 0.12.

The average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 3.99 percent from 4.03 percent.  Points rose to -0.33 from -0.38.

Rates for 15-year FRM fell to 3.42 percent from 3.47 percent.  Points decreased from 0.19 to 0.16.

Adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) once again had an 8 percent market share.  The rate for the 5/1 ARM decreased 2 basis points to 3.21 percent with points increasing to 0.33 from 0.27.  

MBA collects interest rate and application data through a Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey which it has conducted since 1990.  The survey covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.  Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Interest rates presume a mortgage with an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio and points include the origination fee.  Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.