Both Home Purchase and Refinance mortgage activity has been dropping lately. In particular, the "Purchase" index has dipped 1% from last week.
The 4-week moving average dropped 2.79%, with purchase applications up 3.25% but refinancings down 4.31%.
The slow refinancing activity, does not represent the huge spike in of Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP 2.0) requests in some states. All refinancing applications rose in February from January. The states that had big refinancing spikes were Nevada by 71%, Arizona by 61% and Florida by 49%.
The rest of the states however experienced generally flat or even downward refi activities. HARP is definitely a big driving force in those states that were hit the hardest ion terms of home values.
HARP refinancings that were actually completed dropped to a 2-year low in December 2011. However, HARP 2.0 has just been launched which has increased HARP 2.0 eligibility and the result of that will be available later in Q1.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate for conforming loans climbed to 4.19% from 4.06% a week earlier. The 30-year fixed FHA loans increased to 3.93% from 3.82%. The average home purchase mortgage rose roughly 4% to $225,463 in February 2012 from $216,888 in January. Refinances dropped 2.4% to $222,048 from $227,563.
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