Purchase Loan Apps Growth Implies Better New Home Sales
MBA Mortgage Applications (week ended 4/19/2013)
– Purchase Index – Week/Week +0.3%. Previous weeks were +4.0%, -1.0%, +1.0%. +7.0%. -4.0%, -3.0%, +15% and -5%.
– Refinance Index – Week/Week +0.3%. Previous weeks were +5.0%. +6.0%, -6.0%, +8.0%.,-8.0%, -5.0%, +15% and -3.0%.
– Composite Index – Week/Week +0.2%. Previous weeks were +4.8%, +4.5%, +4.0%, +7.7%, -7.1%, -4.7%. +14.8% and -3.8%.
The big gain 7 weeks ago and then the 2 weeks of loss were induced by the change in FHA policies. I will drop those weeks from future reports. The picture I see is of modest growth in purchase applications. This implies that the increase in New Home Sales reported yesterday will not erode.
Durable Goods Orders (March 2013)
New Orders – Month/Month 5.7 % 4.3 % -5.7 %. Previous revised from +5.7% to +4.3%. Ex-transportation – Month/Month -1.4 %. Previous revised from -0.5% to -1.7%.
DGO is inconsistent from month to month but this data is not indicative of GDP growth.
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