Mortgage Loan Rates, Applications Slipped Last Week

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a decrease of 1.9% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending April 6. Mortgage loan rates fell last week on four of five loan types that the MBA tracks.

On an unadjusted basis, the composite index decreased by 1% week over week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index slipped by 2% compared with the week ended March 30. The unadjusted purchase index decreased by 1% for the week and is now just 0.5% higher year over year.

The MBA’s refinance index decreased by 2% week over week, and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing dipped week over week from 38.5% to 38.4%, its lowest level since September 2008.

Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 6.3% of all applications, down from 6.5% in the prior week.

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Mortgage loan rates have moved mostly sideways over the past week, according to Mortgage News Daily. The most prevalent 30-year fixed-rate on Tuesday was 4.5%, just 0.01 percentage point higher than a week ago. Lenders and borrowers will be watching the Consumer Price Index report out later this morning, as a significant bump in inflation could send rates up quickly.

According to the MBA, last week’s average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased from 4.69% to 4.66%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased from 4.56% to 4.53%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped from 4.09% to 4.08%.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan increased from 3.87% to 3.93%. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed-rate loan fell from 4.74% to 4.66%.

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