Mortgage Loan Rates Ticking Up Again

For the past several weeks, changes in both applications and mortgage rates continue to be relatively small. Refinancing no longer picks up the slack in mortgage lending now that the lending market is coming off record low interest rates. Homeowners who were going to refinance have already done so, and the rest are either waiting for rates to fall or for their homes to increase in value enough to make a refinance worth it.

The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased by 0.2% from last week’s report. On an unadjusted basis, the composite index increased by 9% week-over-week. The unadjusted purchase index increased by 6% for the week, and it is 35% higher year-over-year. The jump in the unadjusted purchase index ends a two-month run of decreases, but even though the gain was relatively large, averaged over the past four weeks the purchase index is still down about 5% year-over-year.

The MBA’s refinance index increased by 0.1%, after dropping by 7% in the previous week. The share of refinancings rose by two points, totaling 66% of all applications. Adjustable rate mortgage loans account for 8% of all applications, up 1% from the prior week.

The average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased from 4.46% to 4.48%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 4.47% to 4.48%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage remained unchanged at 3.52%.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan rose from 3.12% to 3.18%.