Housing

Mortgage Loan Rates Tick Higher as Applications Continue to Slip

Paul Ausick

Published: October 4, 2017 7:40 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 7:32 am

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a decrease of 0.4% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending September 29. During the week, mortgage loan rates rose on four of 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 1% compared with the week ended September 22. The unadjusted purchase index increased by 1% for the week and is now 5% 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 50.8% to 50.1%.

Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 6% of all applications, down 0.5 percentage points from the prior week.

Mortgage rates have remained near their two-month highs over the past week, but that still puts them in a range of 3.875% to 4.000% for top-tier borrowers according to Mortgage News Daily. Most changes in the rate borrowers pay have come in the closing costs associated with getting a mortgage loan.

According to the MBA, last week’s average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 4.11% to 4.12%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 4.06% to 4.09%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 3.38% to 3.42%.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan decreased from 3.38% to 3.30%. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed-rate loan ticked up from 3.98% to 3.99%.