Why you should consider the mortgage applications indices

Weekly mortgage applications review, August 26–31 (Part 1 of 4)

Every week, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) puts out an index of mortgage application activity

Mortgage applications are relevant to a number of industries—from banks to non-banks, to mortgage REITs like Annaly (NLY) or American Capital (AGNC), to homebuilders like Lennar (LEN), KB Home (KBH), or Toll Brothers (TOL). This series will break down the different indices and help you learn what insight you can glean from them. If you’re a bank, you’re looking at these indices and trying to determine whether you’re competitive in all the segments you want to be competitive in. If you’re a non-bank, you might be looking to see if you’re gaining share or losing share. If you’re a mortgage REIT, you’re focusing on the refinance index and what it might mean for prepayments going forward. And if you’re a homebuilder, you’re watching the purchase index as a way to gauge future demand.

This series will look at the three main MBA indices.

• Part 2: The MBA Basic Index

• Part 3: The MBA Purchase Index

• Part 4: The MBA Refinance Index

We’ll start with the basic MBA Mortgage Applications Index.

Continue to Part 2

Browse this series on Market Realist:

• Part 2 - Massive mortgage market transformation: The return of subprime?

• Part 3 - Why the MBA Purchase Index fell but housing remains affordable

• Part 4 - Refinancing activity surprisingly rises, affecting REITs