Preparing for the next hurricane in Florida? Or Louisiana? Or Texas? Call this really smart or really humorous, it’s up to you. (And no, I don’t know how it fared.) We do, however, know how lenders and vendors are faring. Sure, headlines blared that rates were going down, but as we all know they went up after the Fed’s 50 basis point cut a few weeks ago, and locks have not shot up much, if at all. Looking at September, according to Curinos’ new proprietary application index, refinances increased 62% in September; the purchase index increased 21% for September as a whole. September 2024 funded mortgage volume increased 21% YoY and decreased 3% MoM. The average 30-year conforming retail funded rate in September 2024 was 6.45, 30bps lower than August 2024 and 53bps lower than the same month last year. Purchase rates were 33bps lower MoM and 67bps lower YoY, while Refinance rates were 29bps lower MoM and 48bps lower YoY. Curinos sources a statistically significant data set directly from lenders to produce these benchmark figures. (Today’s podcast is found here and this week’s is sponsored by LoanCare. The mortgage subservicer is known for delivering superior customer experience through personalization and convenience. LoanCare is part of Fidelity National Financial, a Fortune 500 company and leading provider of services to real estate and mortgage industries. Hear an interview with Figure’s Michael Tannenbaum on how borrowers are paying down debt and the ways in which his company is utilizing OpenAI GPT.)