Applications slide
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today, the volume of applications for mortgages fell last week, primarily due to the decline in demand for home purchases.
The MBA said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, dipped 1.0 percent last week.
Requests for mortgages for home purchases dropped 8.4 percent, while applications for refinancing rose 0.8 percent. Refinance activity now accounts for 81.1 percent of all mortgage activity, up slightly from the week prior.
Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.08 percent, up 3 basis points from 4.05 percent.
According to the MBA:
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,500 or less) increased to 4.08 percent from 4.05 percent, with points increasing to 0.51 from 0.44 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate also increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,500) increased to 4.30 percent from 4.29 percent, with points increasing to 0.44 from 0.43 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate also increased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 3.87 percent from 3.89 percent, with points remaining unchanged at 0.78 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages remained unchanged at 3.33 percent, with points increasing to 0.40 from 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate remained unchanged from last week.
- The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 2.93 percent from 2.91 percent, with points increasing to 0.42 from 0.40 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The effective rate also increased from last week.
