Mortgage Loan Rates Tick Higher as Fed Announcement Looms
The Mortgage Bankers Association noted a week-over-week increase in the group's seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending December 4.
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The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its latest report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning. It noted a week-over-week increase of 1.2% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending December 4, following a decrease of 0.2% for the week ending November 27. Mortgage loan rates increased slightly on four types of fixed-rate loans last week and decreased slightly on 5/1 adjustable-rate loans.
On an unadjusted basis, the composite index increased by 43% week over week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index increased by less than 0.1% compared with the week ended November 27. The unadjusted purchase index increased by 36% for the week and is now 29% higher year over year.
The MBA’s refinance index increased by 4% week over week, and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing rose from 56.6% to 58.7%.
Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 6.2% of all applications, up from 6.1% the prior week.
Mortgage News Daily reports that a 30-year fixed-rate conforming loan averaged 4.00% on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of 3.55% to 4.20%. The publication noted that between now and the expected announcement next week of a hike in the fed funds rate, “risk and reward for locking floating [interest rates] should die down.”
According to the MBA, last week’s average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 4.12% to 4.14%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased from 3.99% to 4.02%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 3.36% to 3.39%.
The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan decreased from 3.11% to 2.98%. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed-rate loan rose from 3.89% to 3.91%.
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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.
