Highlights
MBA's purchase index jumped 10.6 percent in the March 21 week to 403.7, though the four-week average remains at a weak 375.2. A drop in 30-year loan rates likely helped boost the total, as it appears to have certainly done for the refinance index which jumped 82 percent to 4,255.2. Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages fell steeply in the week, down 24 basis points to an average 5.74 percent following the Federal Reserve's dramatic run of policy actions. Rates on 15-year mortgages and 1-year adjustables were little changed. The report is a positive for the housing outlook though it won't have much effect on the markets or expectations for today's new home sales data, since multiple applications, the result of the credit crunch and uncertainty among potential borrowers, may still be skewing the data.