Housing

Mortgage Loan Rates Ease Higher as Applications Dip Slightly

Paul Ausick

Published: September 27, 2017 10:45 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 7:45 am

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a decrease of 0.5% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending September 22. During the week, mortgage loan rates rose on all five loan types that the MBA tracks.

On an unadjusted basis, the composite index decreased by 1% week over week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index increased by 3% compared with the week ended September 15. The unadjusted purchase index increased by 2% for the week and is now 4% higher year over year.

The MBA’s refinance index decreased by 4% week over week, and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing dipped from 52.1% to 50.8%.

Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 6.5% of all applications, down 0.3 percentage points from the prior week.

Mortgage rates have held steady since the middle of last week and the Federal Reserve announcement that there would be no interest rate hike. The 10-year Treasury bond rates have changed little as well, holding at around 2.01% and keeping mortgage loan rates in a range of around 3.875% to 4% for top-tier borrowers.

According to the MBA, last week’s average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 4.04% to 4.11%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 3.99% to 4.06%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 3.35% to 3.38%.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan increased from 3.30% to 3.38%. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed rate loan ticked up from 3.97% to 3.98%.