The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a decrease of 5.6% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending April 5. Mortgage interest rates increased on all five types of loans the MBA tracks.
On an unadjusted basis, the MBA’s composite index fell by 5% in the past week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index increased by 1% compared with the week ended March 29. The unadjusted purchase index rose by 1% for the week and was 13% higher year over year.
Mortgage loan rates for a top-tier 30-year fixed-rate loan increased from 4.11% to 4.21% last week, according to Mortgage News Daily. As of Tuesday night, top-tier borrowers were paying 4.23% for that loan. The yield on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose slightly last week from 2.47% to 2.50% as of last night’s close. A year ago the 10-year note yielded 2.78%.
Mike Fratantoni, MBA senior vice president and chief economist, said:
Mortgage rates inched back up last week, but remain substantially lower than they were in the second half of last year. As quickly as refinance activity increased in recent weeks, it backed down again in response to the rise in rates. However, this spring’s lower borrowing costs, coupled with the strong job market, continue to push purchase application volume much higher. Purchase applications are now up more than 13 percent compared to last year at this time.
The MBA’s refinance index decreased by 11% week over week, and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing dropped from 47.4% to 44.1%.
Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 7.6% of all applications, down 1.9 percentage 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 increased from 4.36% to 4.40%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 4.21% to 4.28%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage increased from 3.78% to 3.83%.
The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan ticked up from 3.77% to 3.78%. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed-rate loan also ticked higher, from 4.41% to 4.42%.
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