Mortgage Loan Rates Mixed, Applications Increased Last Week
Applications for new mortgages rose last week, even accounting for the July 4th holiday. Interest rates moved up a little, but remain in a narrow range between 4.5% and 4.75%.
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The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting an increase of 2.5% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending July 6. Mortgage loan rate movements were mixed last week.
Mortgage loan rates ticked down last week, with the 30-year fixed rate loan ending the week right where it began, at 4.65%, according to Mortgage News Daily. The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds rose to just over 2.87% on Tuesday, an increase of 0.01 percentage point week over week.
On an unadjusted basis, the MBA’s composite index decreased by 18% week over week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index increased by 7% compared with the week ended June 29. The unadjusted purchase index decreased by 15% for the week and was 8% higher year over year. The numbers include an adjustment for the shortened holiday week.
The MBA’s refinance index decreased by 4% week over week, and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing fell from 37.2% to 34.8%, the lowest level since August 2008.
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Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 6.3% of all applications, down from 6.7% in the prior week.
According to the MBA, last week’s average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slipped from 4.79% 4.76%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dipped from 4.71% to 4.68%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased from 4.22% to 4.18%.
The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan increased from 4.03% to 4.13%, the highest level in the history of the MBA survey. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed-rate loan rose from 4.78% to 4.80%.
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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.
