The National Association of Home Builders reports that USDA-backed loan sizes spiked to a new high last week, while the number of fixed-rate mortgage applications decreased.
The latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Applications Survey show a decrease of 2.4% in fixed-rate mortgage applications on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
Currently, fixed-rate mortgages account for about 95% of all mortgage activity, with the rest of mortgage applications being adjustable-rate mortgages. While through most of June, refinancing activity was experiencing highs that had not been seen in more than two years, it slumped 6.5% in the latest week. Meanwhile, purchase activity had increased 2.3% from the previous week.
Furthermore, USDA-backed loans have shown a dramatic spike in the last week, reaching a new high average loan size of $179,400. The data from the Weekly Application Survey show that the volume of such loans has nonetheless decreased by 6.7% from the previous week.
