By Jann Swanson
Posted To: MND NewsWire
The first week of the New Year was a good one – no make that a great one – for mortgage activity with virtually unprecedented increases in mortgage applications both for purchase and refinance. While the figures were partially affected by the resumption of more normal business activity following the Christmas holidays, the surge in applications was nonetheless remarkable. As context, application volume as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA’s) Market Composite Index was down 9.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis over the two week holiday period ended January 2 was down 9.1 percent including an adjustment to account for the holiday. The volume was down 37 percent on an unadjusted basis. Applications for the week ended January 9 more than offset those losses. MBA said today…(read more)