by Calculated Risk on 6/25/2025 07:00:00 AM

From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

Mortgage applications increased 1.1 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 20, 2025. This week’s results include an adjustment for the Juneteenth holiday.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 1.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 10 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 3 percent from the previous week and was 29 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 0.4 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 11 percent compared with the previous week and was 12 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

“The combination of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, current economic conditions, and last week’s FOMC meeting resulted in slightly lower Treasury rates on average. However, mortgage rates still edged higher but remained in the same narrow range, with the 30-year fixed rate increasing to 6.88 percent last week,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “Applications increased slightly overall driven by FHA refinances, but conventional applications saw declines over the week. The average loan size for purchase applications declined to $436,300, the lowest level since January 2025, driven by decreasing conventional purchase loan sizes.”
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The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($806,500 or less) increased to 6.88 percent from 6.84 percent, with points decreasing to 0.63 from 0.66 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index.

According to the MBA, purchase activity is up 12% year-over-year unadjusted. 

Red is a four-week average (blue is weekly).  

Purchase application activity is still depressed, but above the lows of October 2023 and is 9% above the lowest levels during the housing bust.  

The second graph shows the refinance index since 1990.

The refinance index increased but remained very low.