The latest National Appraisal Volume Index report from a la mode mirrored a lot of the same results from last week as the start of school takes focus away from house hunting.
According to this week’s index, appraisal volume fell 4.2%, which is even more than the 1.5% drop witnessed a week ago.
Last week, a la mode attributed the decreases to families getting settled for the start of the school, and it looks like not much has changed for this new report.
As a result, the 4-week average dropped to 0.8%, down from 2.2%.
See the chart below, which is provided exclusively to HousingWire, to see appraisal volume over the past four weeks.
Click to enlarge
(Source: a la mode)
Appraisal volume is an indicator of market strength and holds some advantages over weekly mortgage applications.
For example, fallout is less for appraisals since they are ordered later in the mortgage process, after creditworthiness is determined, and there are few multiple-orders, by the time an appraisal is conducted.
Mortgage applications are looking very similar to appraisal volume right now. The latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association posted that mortgage applications rose by 0.9% from the previous week, continuing a trend of lackluster reports.
