Mortgage Loan Rates at Multi-Month Highs Last Week

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a week-over-week decrease of 9.4% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending November 25. The MBA noted that weekly results included an adjustment for the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Mortgage loan rates rose on all types of fixed-rate loans over the past week.

On an unadjusted basis, the composite index decreased by 38% week over week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased by 0.2% compared with the week ended November 18. The unadjusted purchase index decreased 34% for the week and is now 3% higher year over year.

The MBA’s refinance index decreased by 16% week over week and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing dropped from 58.2% to 55.1%, the index’s lowest level since June.

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Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 5.7% of all applications, up from 5.2% the previous week, the highest level since June. The average loan size for purchase applications reached a survey high at $312,400.

Mortgage rates have pulled back from multi-month highs of 4.25% posted the day before Thanksgiving. The noteworthy point is that mortgage rates climbed by 0.5% in just three weeks following the November elections, “a feat seldom duplicated in the history of mortgage rates,” according to Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily. As of Tuesday, most lenders were offering rates of 4.0% to 4.125%.

According to the MBA, last week’s average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased from 4.16% to 4.23%, the highest rate since June 2015. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 4.04% to 4.18%, its highest level since July 2015. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage increased from 3.35% to 3.48%, the highest since October 2014.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan decreased from 3.24% to 3.23%. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed-rate loan rose from 3.90% to 4.00%, the highest level since July 2015.

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