Mortgage Loan Rates Tick Down, but Applications Decline
The latest Mortgage Bankers Association report on mortgage applications noted a week-over-week decrease of more than 6% in the group's seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending September 25.
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The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning. It noted a week-over-week decrease of 6.7% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending September 25, following an increase of 13.9% for the week ending September 18. Mortgage loan rate changes remained unchanged or fell last week.
On an unadjusted basis, the composite index decreased by 7% week over week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index fell by 6%, compared with the week ended September 18. The unadjusted purchase index decreased by 6% for the week and is now 20% higher year over year.
The MBA’s refinance index decreased by 8% week over week, and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing fell from 58.4% to 58%.
Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 6.9% of all applications, unchanged from the prior week.
Mortgage News Daily reported on Tuesday that most mortgage lenders continue to offer 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in a range of 3.875% to 4.00%, with some more aggressive lenders offering rates as low as 3.75%. At 3.875%, the most common offer from lenders, mortgage rates are “as strong as [they’ve] been since early May 2015.”
According to the MBA, last week’s average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked down from 4.09% to 4.08%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased from 3.99% to 3.96%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased from 3.31% to 3.29%.
The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan remained unchanged at 2.95%. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed-rate loan slipped from 3.88% to 3.87%.
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
