Housing

Mortgage Loan Rates Mixed, Applications Fell Last Week

Paul Ausick

Published: July 18, 2018 7:35 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 8:52 pm

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a decrease of 2.5% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index for the week ending July 13. Mortgage loan rate movements were mixed last week.

Mortgage loan rates did not move much last week, with the 30-year fixed rate loan ending the week about one tick below where it began, at 4.64%, according to Mortgage News Daily. The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds dipped to around 2.86% on Tuesday, just 0.01 percentage point lower week over week.

On an unadjusted basis, the MBA’s composite index increased by 22% week over week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased by 5% compared with the week ended July 6. The unadjusted purchase index increased by 19% for the week and was 1% higher year over year.

The MBA’s refinance index increased by 2% week over week, and the percentage of all new applications that were seeking refinancing rose from 34.8% to 36.5%.

Adjustable rate mortgage loans accounted for 6.1% of all applications, down from 6.3% in 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 4.76% 4.77%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dipped from 4.68% to 4.66%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage increased from 4.18% to 4.22%.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan decreased from 4.13% to 4.12%, still close to the prior week’s all-time high since this survey began. Rates on a 30-year FHA-backed fixed-rate loan slipped from 4.80% to 4.78%.

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