The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Weekly Application Survey shows that, for the week ending November 6, 2020, mortgage application activity decreased by 0.5% from the prior week on a seasonally adjusted basis, as indicated by its Market Composite Index. One of its two constituent indexes, the Purchasing Index, decreased by 3% from the previous week while the other, the Refinance Index, increased by 0.6%. The MBA’s tracked 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate measure decreased by three basis points from the prior week to 2.98%, a new survey low.

The MBA cites inadequate housing supply as continuing to put upward pressure on home prices, thus challenging homeownership for first-time or lower-income homebuyers, despite ongoing low mortgage rates.

While purchasing reached its lowest level since May, year-over-year gains continue both for purchasing and refinancing, registering percentage increases of 16% and 67%, respectively, on an unadjusted basis compared to the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 70% of total applications from 68.7% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 2% of total applications.

Tags: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, home mortgage, home prices appreciation, mortgage bankers association, refinancing