Mortgage Loan Rates Post Mixed Moves, New Applications Flat

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a decrease of just 0.1% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending June 28. Mortgage interest rates decreased on two of the five types of loans the MBA tracks, while rising on two and remaining unchanged on the other.

On an unadjusted basis, the MBA’s composite index decreased by 3% in the past week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index increased by 1% compared with the week ended June 21. The unadjusted purchase index rose by 1% for the week and was 10% higher year over year.

Mortgage loan rates for a top-tier 30-year fixed-rate loan ticked up from 3.80% to 3.81% last week, according to Mortgage News Daily. As of Tuesday night, top-tier borrowers were paying 3.80% for that loan. The yield on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note dropped from 2.06% to 1.98% as of last night’s close. A year ago, the 10-year note yielded 2.87%.

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Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting, said:

Purchase applications picked up slightly last week, as conventional and government activity were each up around 1 percent. Furthermore, in continuation of the gradual growth trend seen throughout the first half of 2019, purchase activity was almost 10 percent higher than a year ago. A still-strong job market, improving affordability and lower mortgage rates continue to support growth.

The MBA’s refinance index decreased by 1% week over week, and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing slipped from 51.5% to 51.0%.

Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 5.2% of all applications, down 1.3 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 ticked up from 4.06% to 4.07%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was unchanged at 4.00%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 3.40% to 3.42%.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan decreased from 3.50% to 3.45%. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed-rate loan decreased from 4.01% to 3.97%.
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