Why you should follow the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Index
Weekly mortgage applications review, August 5–9 (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 to homebuilders. 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. We’ll start with the basic MBA Mortgage Applications Index.
Continue to Part 2: Opportunity ahead for mortgage REITs as bond market calms
Browse this series on Market Realist
