Mortgage Applications Pick Up as Interest Rates Climb Higher

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting an increase of 4.9% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending October 19. Mortgage interest rates rose on four of five types of loans the MBA tracks.

Mortgage loan rates for top-tier borrowers inched up last week from a prior week’s ending value of 4.94% to 4.99% for a 30-year fixed-rate loan, according to Mortgage News Daily. As of Tuesday night, top-tier borrowers are still looking at a rate of 4.99%. The yield on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note has ticked higher, from 3.16% last Tuesday to 3.17% last night. A year ago the 10-year note yielded about 2.4%.

On an unadjusted basis, the MBA’s composite index rose by 5.0% week over week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index increased by 2.0% compared with the week ended October 12. The unadjusted purchase index also rose by 2.0% for the week and was 0.2% higher year over year.

The MBA’s refinance index increased by 10% week over week and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing increased from 38.1% to 39.8%.

Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 7% of all applications, down 0.1 points compared with the prior week.

According to the MBA, last week’s average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked up from 5.10% to 5.11%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked down from 4.98% to 5.01%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage remained unchanged at 4.50%.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan increased from 4.34% to 4.47%, the highest level since the MBA series began in 2011. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed-rate loan rose from 4.99% to 5.07%.