Mortgage affordability improved in May: MBA

By BrokerOwner.net June 27, 2024 Housing News

The
median
monthly
payment
for
purchase
mortgage
applicants
decreased
to
$2,219
in
May,

down
1.6%
from
the
prior
month,
according
to
data
released
Thursday
by
the

Mortgage
Bankers
Association
(MBA).

”Homebuyer
affordability
conditions
improved
in
May
as
slightly
lower
mortgage
rates
and
an
uptick
in
housing
inventory
slightly
eased
the
recent
rise
in
application
payment
amounts,”
Edward
Seiler,
MBA’s
associate
vice
president
of
housing
economics,
said
in
a
statement.
“MBA
is
forecasting
for
mortgage
rates
to
fall
closer
to
6.5
percent
by
the
end
of
the
year,
which
along
with
rising
inventory
levels
and
a
subsequent
slowdown
in
home-price
growth,
should
help
affordability.”

At

HousingWire‘s
Mortgage
Rates
Center
on
Thursday,
the
average
rate
for
30-year
conventional
loans
was
7.08%,
down
from
7.26%
at
the
end
of
May.

The
national
Purchase
Applications
Payment
Index
(PAPI)
—
benchmarked
at
100
in
March
2012
—
fell
1.6%
in
May
to
a
reading
of
173.9.
The
MBA
noted
that
borrowers
applying
for
”lower-payment
mortgages”
—
up
to
the
25th
percentile
of
payment
amounts
—
saw
their
median
monthly
payment
fall
by
1.9%
to
$1,508
in
May.

For

new-home
purchases,
the
trade
group’s
builder
application
payment
index
showed
a
median
monthly
payment
of
$2,522
in
May,
down
3.2%
from
April.

Across
various
loan
types,
conventional
loan
applicants
had
a
median
monthly
payment
of
$2,226
in
May,
down
from
$2,271
in
April.
For

Federal
Housing
Administration
(FHA)
loan
applicants,
the
median
payment
dropped
from
$1,955
to
$1,924
during
the
month.

At
the
state
level,
the
highest
purchase
application
payment
readings
last
month
were
in
Idaho
(262.9),
Nevada
(258.3),
Arizona
(231.4),
Florida
(221.8)
and
Rhode
Island
(220.2).
The
lowest
readings
were
in
Louisiana
(127.4),
Connecticut (131.4),
New
York
(132.2),
Alaska
(136.8)
and
West
Virginia
(139.3).
This
is
a
measurement
of
payment
growth
since
March
2012.