Fannie Mae Weekly Index: Purchase Applications Fall 1.4% While Refinance Applications Rise 2.5%
Purchase mortgage applications fell while refinance applications rose in the week ending October 30, 2026, according to Fannie Mae's weekly application indices. The Purchase Application-Level Index (PALI) decreased 1.4 percent from the prior week, while the Refinance Application-Level Index (RALI) increased 2.5 percent, a split that shows refinancing responding first as rates ease while purchase demand lags.
The split inside refinancing is sharper. Rate-term refinance applications jumped 9.4 percent in the week, while cash-out refinance applications were flat at 0 percent change. In other words, nearly all of the week's new refinance interest came from borrowers looking to lower their rate, not from owners pulling cash out of their homes.
Fannie Mae releases the two indices at 10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesdays, built from loan application data in its automated underwriting system, Desktop Underwriter, tracking changes in both application count and unpaid principal balance. The company cautions that the indices do not report the raw number of applications and cannot be used to determine how many applications were submitted.
The series rests on broad market coverage. Citing Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data from 2018 through 2024, Fannie Mae notes that a majority of loans used Desktop Underwriter in that period and that it was the most widely used underwriting engine, which makes the weekly indices a timely read on mortgage application activity nationwide. (Source: Fannie Mae)
Source: Fannie Mae
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：房利美位于华盛顿的总部大楼 Midtown Center。Ajay Suresh 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Fannie Mae's headquarters, Midtown Center, in Washington, D.C. Photo by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
